A growing body of research that suggests fish feel pain is sparking an effort to improve the treatment of farm-raised fish that end up on American dinner plates.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/catfish-farm-abusing-its-fish-animal-rights-group-says-yes-n1276823
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Rich Schapiro
If you’re planning to go fishing in Yellowstone National Park this summer, you better head out there in the early morning, because starting on Saturday, the park will be closing all fishing in rivers and streams each day from 2 p.m. until sunrise.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/the-west-s-megadrought-has-ruined-some-of-the-most-icon-1847352465
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Dharna Noor
A removal project aims to reduce numbers of the unwelcome arrival that has quickly become prevalent
Non-native lionfish have become increasingly common in parts of the Mediterranean in recent years, threatening local ecosystems and posing a hazard to humans through their venomous spines.
Marine biologist Prof Jason Hall-Spencer first saw a lionfish off the coast of Cyprus in 2016. It was just an individual, but the species – which produce about 2 million eggs each year and lack natural predators in their new environment – have quickly become prevalent. “In some places, I’ve seen 40 on one dive,” said Hall-Spencer, from the University of Plymouth.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/22/lionfish-threatens-ecosystems-in-the-med
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Charlotte Burton
Seaside Aquarium says colorful fish, which weighs more than 100lb, has caused ‘quite the stir’
An unusual sight has appeared on the usually mild northern Oregon coast: a large, washed-up, colorful opah fish, weighing around 100lb.
Related: Opah, the world’s first warm-blooded fish species, flaps fins to generate heat
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/20/moonfish-opah-fish-oregon-coast
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Oliver Milman
Florida is fighting through an early and serious algae scourge. More than 790 tons of dead fish have washed up on beaches in Florida over the past few weeks as a red tide grips the Tampa area.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/red-tide-has-killed-at-least-791-tons-of-fish-in-florid-1847318864
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Molly Taft
A giant cod that was once a fishing staple is now so rare it has become the preserve of a few fine diners
It was no ordinary cod that Teitur Christensen was preparing. The head chef at Barbara Fish House, one of four restaurants located in tiny wooden houses in Tórshavn, the Faroe Islands’ capital, Christensen was hosting what has become known as a “Bank evening”, because of the main dish. In the small cosy rooms of these ancient houses – one of which was built more than 500 years ago – his team was getting ready to serve what has become an almost mythical fish: the Faroe Bank cod.
The Faroe Bank cod’s reputation is partly built on its size. It is huge: a three-year-old specimen is already twice as large, on average, as the Atlantic cod. But it is also legendary because of its rarity. A genetically distinctive member of the cod family, it was once plentiful before being nearly fished to extinction. In 2008, all commercial fishing of Faroe Bank cod was banned. Only the Faroe Marine Research Institute (Famri) is now allowed to catch them, when its researchers survey the fish population twice a year.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/cod-almighty-how-faroes-delicacy-nearly-vanished
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Regin Winther Poulsen
Migratory populations have fallen by more than three-quarters since the 1970s, while larger species have declined by a “catastrophic” 94 percent.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/extinction-threatens-third-freshwater-fish-species-report-finds-n1258591
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Yuliya Talmazan
The Trump administration threw up major hurdles for a planned copper and gold mine in Alaska on Monday, a move that could kill the project that had drawn opposition from environmentalists, recreational groups and prominent Republicans.
The current proposal for the Pebble Mine at Bristol Bay “cannot be permitted,” the Army Corps of Engineers said, and it called for a series of strict conditions the project’s developers would need to meet offset the environmental harms that the massive project would have on world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.
The plan to block the project, which POLITICO first reported on Saturday, has been in the works for more than a year amid White House concerns that the mine would gravely damage a commercial fishery that spawns 11 percent of the world’s wild sockeye salmon. The administration had decided last year to allow the permitting process to proceed, but with the caveat that the Pebble developers would need to meet environmental standards that the developer would find difficult to satisfy, said a person familiar with the plan.
“That effectively is how the project is killed,” said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the deliberations. “This one had a huge number of problems.”
Several prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump Jr. and Trump campaign donor and Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris, had begun to publicly speak out against the project. More piled on Monday after the Army Corps announced its decision, with Alaska’s Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan both issuing statements supporting the Army Corps’ conclusion that Pebble should not be issued its permits.
“I understand, respect, and support this decision. I agree that a permit should not be issued,” Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement on Monday. “And I thank the administration for its commitment to the protection of this world-class watershed and salmon fishery.”
Environmentalists, conservationists and commercial fishermen have voiced concerns for years about the damage the mining waste would have on the Bristol Bay watershed, an area about the size of West Virginia.
The Army Corps’ statement saying the mine cannot be permitted as proposed is “a really big deal,” said Trout Unlimited CEO Chris Wood, who worked to block the mine.
The Army Corps statement came just hours after its regional office issued conditions stating that mine developer Pebble Limited Partnership would need to undertake major environmental mitigation efforts in order to win approval to develop the site, which its developer estimated holds 57 billion pounds of copper, 71 million ounces of gold, 3.4 billion pounds of molybdenum and 345 million ounces of silver.
That mitigation efforts included the need to offset “unavoidable adverse impacts” and “significant degradation” to aquatic resources by improving nearly 3,000 acres of wetlands and hundreds of miles of streams and open water.
However, it may not be feasible to build those mitigation projects. The Army Corps required that Pebble Partnership, the U.S. subsidiary of Canadian mining firm Northern Dynasty Minerals, would need to restore wetlands within the same watershed. The company has previously said there might not be enough acreage in need of improvement in the largely untouched wilderness.
“That’s going to be a significant hurdle for the Pebble Partnership to overcome in large part because … this is a pristine watershed. We’re not talking about an urban stream flowing through New Jersey somewhere,” said Trout Unlimited’s Wood.
However, the mine’s developer stuck to its contention that despite the onerous obligations, its efforts to win a permit would be successful, and it said the Army Corps’ mitigation letter was not a “show-stopper.”
“Based on our understanding of the substance of the letter, our discussions with the state, our substantial work in the field and our discussions with the USACE we believe our final Comprehensive Management Plan submission will be submitted within weeks and will satisfy all of the requirements of the letter,” CEO Tom Collier said in a statement.
Pebble’s mitigation plan will include preserved land that is much larger than the size of the impacted wetlands, the company said.
The Army Corps letter gives Pebble 90 days to file its plan. Taking into account the time for the Corps to review Pebble’s response, the timeline means a final decision on Pebble Mine could extend beyond President Donald Trump’s first term. Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, has said he would cancel the project if elected.
While the project hasn’t been rejected outright — the EPA has not vetoed a crucial Clean Water Act permit — the person familiar with the administration’s plan said the huge impact of the mine on the bay and the modest amount of wetlands acreage available in the area to improve could never possibly lead to a green light.
“None of those concerns have been mitigated,” the person said.
The mine’s opponents were cautiously optimistic.
“Up until the moment the permit is actually denied, that there’s an active refutation of the permit, we all have to be on guard,” said Wood. “The fat lady may not be singing, but she’s definitely humming a few bars right now.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/24/alaska-mine-trump-administration-reversal-401183
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Zack Colman and Alex Guillén
Kim Driver was wading chest-deep in the Winnipeg River with her husband and friends when she suddenly screamed “Someone’s got my leg,” before being pulled underwater. Vice reports that the “someone” was a muskie, a fish that “can grow up to 6 feet long and weigh more than 50 pounds.” it also has very respectable teeth.
Kim fought her way to shore, and Terry and his friends shifted from disbelief to panic mode as they saw the extent of the damage along her right calf.
“It completely engulfed her calf from pretty much knee to ankle,” Terry said.
“As soon as we saw the wound and the blood we knew it was a muskie, because we’re all fishermen out there. Nobody’s ever seen one do that before. Nobody’s ever seen one T-bone someone’s calves.”
Thankfully, the couple’s beach crew included nurses and Ontario Provincial Police officers, who administered first aid while they told Terry to get his truck and rush her to a hospital in Kenora.
Source: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/03/giant-freshwater-fish-attacks.html
Droolin’ Dog sniffed out this story and shared it with you.
The Article Was Written/Published By: Mark Frauenfelder
