The number of parasitic worms in ocean fish has increased as much as 90-fold. Some fish parasites are on the rise, bringing with them risks to human health and fisheries-based economies. Now researchers have a new way to track their numbers—by digging into old records and museum samples. Read more in Hakai.
fisheries
Near Fish Farms, Lobster Catches Plummet
Lobster fishers catch fewer market-sized lobsters, and see fewer fertile females, in areas close to fish farms in Nova Scotia, according to new research led by Inka Milewski, a research associate at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Lobster fishers working in Port Mouton Bay, Nova Scotia, keep detailed records of when and where they fish and how many […]
Unmasking a Salmon Virus
The previously unknown cause of a common chinook salmon disease has turned out to be a familiar foe. A common virus that plagues Atlantic salmon in fish farms around the world also causes disease in farmed Pacific chinook salmon, a new finding that reignites the debate about infectious disease migrating from farmed fish to wild […]
Saving Canada’s Wild Salmon Policy
Canada already has a forward-thinking salmon management plan on the books. Now it just needs to implement it. When Canada’s Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon was announced in 2005, it was hailed as a major step forward for fisheries management in the country. “It was a blueprint for how to manage, rebuild, and […]
Brexit Vote Will Likely Cause Problems for UK Fishers
Fishers were part of the “Leave” push, but it may not work out as they’d hoped. The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union in last week’s “Brexit” referendum will have profound effects on how fisheries are managed in both the UK and the EU. For now, it’s unclear exactly what those effects will […]
Tentacled sea creatures are taking over the Earth’s oceans
Octopuses and their tentacled brethren are taking over the seas, as ocean temperatures climb and humans snaffle up their natural predators. Zoe Doubleday, a marine biologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and her colleagues were studying an iconic local species, the giant Australian cuttlefish, which had been in decline for several years. Doubleday […]
Fish for Food
Exploring ways to get fish on the table in Bolivia. People in Bolivia don’t eat much fish — among South American nations it has the lowest per-capita consumption — despite having a large number of lakes and rivers. But local, sustainably sourced fish could be a good source of protein and help reduce food insecurity, […]
The Ghosts of Fishers Past
Lost fishing gear keeps on doing the job it was designed for long after its owners are gone. Lacuna is like most other humpback whales in the Atlantic Ocean. He overwinters in warm Caribbean waters—where humpbacks breed and give birth—and heads north in spring, toward colder waters to feast on the abundance of krill, copepods, […]
When Good Fish Die Young
Rising temperatures are suppressing survival rates for young fish. Climate change is making fish die young. Over the past six decades, the proportion of fish that survive to adulthood has been going down, by three percent per decade on average, according to a new analysis of global fish stock data. Compiling statistics on changing fish […]
A Fishy Plan
Canada’s new government says it’s going to expand the country’s marine protected areas. Scientists worry the government is cutting corners to hit its goal. Canada has a long way to go in protecting its oceans. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity wants 10 percent of the world’s marine and coastal environments protected by 2020. […]