Category Archives: Fisheries Science

Save Bristol Bay so we can keep picking on little guys

smallfish I suppose the good news is that none of us has cracked under the pressure and sent pictures of The Family Jewels to some anonymous campus sweetheart, but that’s coming.

Looking down, I think I’ll be safe enough, given that I haven’t seen mine in a couple of decades, but the rest of you concern me.

With societal censure clinging to us outdoorsy types like a dark cloud, issues like Catch & Release, invasive species, trespass, the despoiling of the watershed with our two and four wheeled gas guzzlers, planted versus wild, and the delight we show in blowing daylight through the arse end of anything exhaling CO2, have painted a bright target on our backs.

Now all them fellows we teased in school roam the halls of science and are determined to blame us for undoing millions of years of genetic selection, how all the small fish is our doing.

After studying data going back to 1943, Kendall has discovered that the average length of a (Bristol Bay) sockeye salmon is now 14 millimeters (0.25”) shorter than it used to be. She also discovered that the number of sockeye that spent two, instead of the normal three years, out at sea before coming upstream to lay their eggs, had increased by 16%, suggesting Mother Nature was trying to make up for losses incurred due to fishing.

– via PhysOrg.com

While nets and the size of their mesh is doing the bulk of the selection, our squeezing the life out of the big fish so we can show Ma, thumping the SOB as its bigger then most, or bouncing Fatty off the rocks while the guide gets pictures 62 through 74, has to play some small part.

What took thousands or even millions of years of evolution to accomplish, has been undone in just a couple of centuries of human fishing practices.

Just a reminder that you guys suck.

It couldn’t have been me, all I ever catch is dinks …

Perhaps we should insist on a waiting period to purchase trout

Idaho Total dollar value for all farmed trout sold by United States growers was $71.3 million dollars, at an average price of $1.39 a pound, down 5% from 2009’s total.

Idaho is the largest grower of commercial trout in the US, accounting for 50% of the nationwide total.

For trout 12 inches or longer, 64 percent were sold to processors and 17 percent were sold for recreational stocking.

Surely it sounds boring and innocent enough, but if trout farms sell 17% of their fish as recreational stockers, it suggests that all manner of genetically manipulated lumpy genomes will be plying our waterways in short order.

Twice the muscle mass and half the brains would be a formidable temptation for some angling enthusiast with a small pond, who wants something other than a traditional warm water fishery in his backyard.

Fast forward to the Asian Carp and a flooded farm pond, whose sudden presence in the Mississippi is liable to rewrite what’s native to North America for the next millennia.

Both trout farmers and salmon growers have insisted genetically modified fish would be grown inland, in restrictive ponds that wouldn’t allow release into the wild, and while much of the recreational stocking is likely state hatcheries purchasing fingerling fish to offset unforeseen calamity at one or more of their facilities, it sets the stage for the accidental towing of the wrong semi to the wrong destination, and suddenly that airtight glove of security is so very porous…

To be safe we may want to nuke it from orbit

rotenone-pyrethrins I finished my read of the Yellowstone Lake plan the Park recently published for comment. In it they specify the need to remove invasive Lake Trout and restore the native Yellowstone Cutthroat.

Sure enough, our pal Rotenone coupled with gill netting will be the preferred fish killing method, gill nets deployed by a vendor in the lake proper, and follow-up chemical work for all the tributaries that lack some natural barrier to upstream migration.

I find it surprising that Fish & Game hatchery theory is predicated on us happy anglers killing our limit, but whenever they need to lay waste to a watershed – they never invite us to help ..

Rotenone effects both fish and invertebrates in largely the same way, especially prone are gill-bearing insects that derive oxygen from the water via beating of gills. Naturally that includes everything trout eat, so when the florescent green nasty finally is dissipated by a couple of sacks of Potassium Permanganate, it’ll leave a stream or lake mostly empty of life.

Despite Rotenone having been our chemical mainstay for fish killing for nearly 50 years, but very little science exists on the effects of rotenone on surrounding flora and fauna.

Some of that science is bubbling up unbidden given its linkage to Parkinson’s Disease. Likely making a lot of fellows at fish & game nervous and thinking of transfer from the chemical division back to enforcement …

While that topic is hotly debated, what papers we could find on Rotenone suggests that years are necessary before a stream returns to its historic insect populations, and some streams never return to their pre-poisoning levels.

Why is it so important? Because its use is on the rise given that we’re having to defend both shores and the interior from invasives. Running a multi-day slug of toxic killing agent through most of the tributaries and canals hosting an invasive critter is liable to intersect with drinking water and kids splashing merrily, and if they haven’t baked all that science thoroughly we all could be walking through Love Canal too – the Sequel.

The good news is that now that we no longer care about spotted owls, we can always park some Claymores around the last drizzle of water containing Tricorythodes … then camp in the fast water insisting we won’t budge in between fits of our teeth chattering.

A wild trout and a steelhead are the same thing

steelhead trout Research on Oregon’s Hood River steelhead population suggests a bit of good news may be in the offing. Wild trout inhabiting the river are the source of 40% of the genetic makeup of its steelhead brethren, which is neatly offsetting the “watering down” of genetic makeup due to hatchery fish.

The trout and steelhead are the same species, interbreeding between the two being commonplace.

In a field study in Hood River, Ore., researchers used DNA analysis to determine that up to 40 percent of the genes in returning steelhead came from wild rainbow trout, rather than other steelhead. And only 1 percent of the genes came from “residualized” hatchery fish – fish that had stayed in the stream and mated, but not gone to sea as intended by the hatchery program.

– via PhysOrg.com

No mention was made whether additional complications arise from hatchery steelhead and hatchery trout being planted in the same watershed, and whether that would prove an additional source of dilution.

The study reveals a complex picture of wild trout and steelhead intermingling as they reproduce. A steelhead might be produced by the spawning of two steelhead, two wild trout, or a returning steelhead and a trout.

Given the research covers a 15 year span and analysis of 12,000 steelhead, it’s fairly compelling. As scientists still cannot explain why one fish heads for saltwater and another doesn’t, it’s nice to know that as we pull down some of these old irrigation dams that are no longer needed, one or more small tributaries might contain remnants of the original strain trout – and therefore the original strain of steelhead, once thought extinct.

Makes for an unusual management issue. Many scientists are already on record that trout and steelhead are the same fish, and given that its no longer two distinct species how can you persist separate regulations for each? It would seem a canny lawyer could argue a 10 fish limit, 20 in possession held for the larger oceangoing variant as well as those pumped into the water at the Bridge Pool …

Sea Lice get a small reprieve

Farmed fish counter The farmed fish industry may have gotten a bit of a reprieve from all the heat associated with the Frankenfish, apparently UC Davis researchers claim that while farmed fish are responsible for much of the sea lice the fish must navigate through – there’s less evidence  those self-same lice are responsible for the collapse of the Pink Salmon population of Western Canada.

Those runs have climbed and dropped precipitously in the past, again without explanation. UC Davis scientists continue to shrug about what happened, but the farmed fish induced lice theory gets scrapped.

The new study is the first to analyze 20 years of fish production data and 10 years of sea-lice counts from every salmon farm in the Broughton Archipelago and compare them against 60 years of population counts of adult pink salmon.

The study concludes that farm fish are indeed the main source of sea lice on the area’s juvenile wild pink salmon, but it found no statistical correlation between lice levels on the farms and the lifetime survival of wild pink salmon populations.

– via PhysOrg.com

The nature of science is a bit unpredictable, so I would wait for corroboration from other sources before speaking definitively on the subject.

What is finite and well defined is how few wild fish are in my supermarket. Instead of a nice fillet that I can inspect I have meat hidden in gaily colored opaque bags announcing themselves as fresh Halibut, Salmon, and Cod – each torn from the icy bosom of untouched Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, yearning to join me at dinner …

… it’s too much like a blind date, and I can’t bring myself to buy any.

As most fellows aren’t the cook and bottle-washer and blind to the trends of supermarket aisles, unable to tell the whether the object is a mango or a dog turd … 95% of all fish* (includes squid, scallops, shrimp, and fish-like substance) for sale are farmed.

Occasionally they’ll have a salmon head or fillet in a transparent wrapper, but almost all of the indigenous white fleshed fish are now opaque wrapped – so you won’t see the acne scars, footprints, or notice it’s still moving … kinda …

Doctors insist anything living in water is nutritious and an important source of Omega-3 oils, but I’ll opt to be cautious and get my oil downstream of that leaking lawnmower in the Bridge Pool, which should be surrogate enough …

To make matters worse we distribute their naked pictures on the Internet

smart_fish In the 80’s us lay scientists were full of ourselves. We’d embraced the fact that trout ate bugs, that Latin made us sound really intelligent, and the more syllables and body parts we could string together made us irresistible in a social setting.

We were “trout geeks” and we ignored pocket protectors in favor of the stomach pump.

We scoffed at the antiquated non-scientific notion of the Europeans, who insisted that any trout hooked on flies had to be killed, as it would never take the artificial fly again.

We knew better.

Our imitations would hook the same fish many times, we just had to imitate more real insect parts with each hookup. We thought ourselves  invincible, Latin and Mayflies had made us so…

While our theories may have been sound it may have only been coincidence and the hatchery system that allowed us to think Catch & Release was the most appropriate method of disposing of a noble yet vanquished prey, eating them had become tantamount to serving beef brisket in Calcutta, and was out of the question.

As trout chow is shoveled into the hatchery pen and those precious pellets filter down through the water column the Bold & Brave fish, gluttons all – are rewarded for their aggression with the lion’s share of the chow.

The shy and introverted fish hang about the periphery admiring the fat, sleek aggressive fish, wishing the gal’s looked at them thusly …

When vacuumed up and shat into the neighboring brook, the fat, sleek, and aggressive fish wound up slurping the gaily colored Marshmallow Salmon Egg, leaving the creek populated with mostly the shy introverts.

Shy fish were cautious and ate selectively, and fishermen did not fare well against this wily prey, insisting the creek lacked enough fish to return, and going elsewhere for more sleek fat, stupid fish.

“But it are not always the bold and aggressive fish who are most successful. When we marked trout individually and released them back in the wild, it were shy trout who grew most rapidly.”

– via PhysOrg.com

Which suggests the angler that wishes to fish over smart, large fish releases his prey, and those that measure their enjoyment by constant action should kill everything, paying special attention to mashing life out of anything big.

Both theories being sound, and unlike us our European brethren just like brisk action over size ..

… and we’ll be hearing more from our friends in PETA shortly, now that we knowingly stuff a sharp hook through their face and distribute naked pictures of our shy and introverted prey on the Internet.

Better bring a Frisbee if you want to make friends

While the furor over Tiger Woods paving a half mile of a North Carolina trout stream has begun to subside, my regret is that I tipped you fellows to boutique fish first, and in typical conservation fashion you opted to think about it until the Pristine was in crisis  …

Tiger settled with the court and Trout Unlimited by halving the proposed impacts to the creek and contacting AquaDoubleHelix to create a boutique fish that wouldn’t upset the delicate balance of Nature, yet wouldn’t anger those patrons sending a steady stream of Titleists into the fast water.

Fetches anything

Dubbed the “Fairway Trout”, it subsists on a diet of Rock Snot and dry Kibble, isn’t interested in flies whatsoever, fetches anything tossed into the water, sees breathable waders as a hydrant, and announces itself rather soulfully whenever the moon is full.

But most of the time it drapes itself over a hot rock and snores loudly, husbanding precious energy that it semi-promises to use later – were you only to scratch its ears …

It’s Version 1.0, they’ll work the bugs out …

It’s Mrs Frankenfish fish actually, and as we’re part of the problem, we’ll accept the consequences

fof It’s a great subject worthy of much lampooning and bitter vitriol, but us sportsmen have no say in the outcome, will endure largely in silence, and be the first to point fingers when the inevitable occurs.

Call it “Frankenfish” or whatever comes to mind, but the truth is the majority of the world’s population aren’t fishermen and gets hungry three or four times a day and that dictates our fate.

I don’t suggest that I like the outcome, I’m resigned to it.

Folks that buy palatial houses by the river think the surroundings cool, perhaps some have a lonesome and expensive boat moored at their dock, many admire (or resent) the sight of us flailing in the water – but they don’t fish, don’t share our devotion to their survival, and like the trappings of wealth as much as we do.

They vote, fish don’t – end of story.

Rather than pound chest and feel violated about the pending FDA ruling on genetically modified salmon, what grow twice as quick in half the time, recognize that this is one of only two possible outcomes in the larger freshwater/ocean sustainable fisheries issue.

There are too many people on the planet, most like fish – all of them like to eat, and as we’ve alternately slaughtered or shat on all the natural surroundings and indigenous fish, we are about to eat what we’ve sown.

Our conservation organizations are underfunded and relatively powerless. Able to avert a dam or protest releases from a big power company, get one or two small creeks declared special, and they’re done. They cannot sustain the “special,” leaving the creek and its regulations to the hordes of anglers that destroy much of the bank and grind the aquatic population into oblivion just by weight of numbers.

It’s part of our history and part inheritance. Your Dad, his Poppa, and all them hardy types coming across the prairie in Conestoga wagons were fearsome killers. Surrounded by limitless wildlife they treated it as such – and kilt, built, or diverted all that precious infrastructure to their own ends, leaving us and future generations to clean up.

We didn’t – as that’s damn hard work, rather we invented things that harvested less fish even quicker, approximating the killing spree of our ancestors. Tales of conquest and adventure made us push further into the Pristine (shrinking it with every step) to find what few stocks remained in out of the way places like Mongolia, Kamchatka or Alaska, and we blew hell outta them too.

… as that weight of numbers thing is growing.

Then we gash ourselves and moan about how our Playstation-absorbed kid, who hasn’t budged off the couch in a fortnight, is going to be deprived of his birthright.

Proof positive we have learned nothing.

Bringing the existing stocks back will take a couple hundred thousand years. It probably took a couple million to invent salmon and their watershed in the first place, figuring science can give it a good nudge, perhaps 20 or so generations from now we can have something close …

… but that implies we bulldoze all those palatial homes, ban jet skis, restore the forested acres of each headwater, and evict a large, monied, and vocal chunk of the population from their ancestral estates.

… which is never going to happen, because you want Junior’s playstation to hum contentedly, otherwise you’d have to converse with the witless SOB, or worse find him a job.

So … we’re back at option two, grow the equivalent muscle mass of the ancient runs to feed a burgeoning world population, without using any of the original acres, streams, forests, oceans, or tidewaters.

As the most efficient process is test tube, that’s where we’re headed. Stem cell research has already produced both rudimentary flesh and muscle fiber, all that remains is to juice the cell replication so it produces a ton or more flaccid and tasteless flesh per hour, per minute, or whatever scale is needed.

… so your kid can whine and turn up his nose at his birthright.

In the interim we’ll stick big needles in animal flesh and zap them with all manner of caustic stuff so you can order sushi.

Some of the result will escape, just as the genetically engineered Roundup resistant crops have done, and if we don’t screw everything forever, or release something sentient that dines on us, we’ll slowly learn from many mistakes.

Rather than steep yourself in angry apoplexy, recognize that you’ve earned this birthright, and despite all of the hideous inequities, no one is giving up their homes, shopping malls, or movie theaters, to restore fish to prior levels.

… and if that’s not enough and you insist on saving some fish, I suggest you give up the sport entirely, as that will save some few, mark you as a selfless sporting martyr, as well as make more for the rest of us.

Fixing it is out of the question, Science is going to have their way with the Old Gal, and nothing you say or do will matter.

Resigned to it all, I’ll cling to the hope that through this process we may be able to salvage one or two small bones that might make our plight a bit easier.

Perhaps the conservation groups with their miniscule budgets can commission some type of boutique fish that survives in warming-water, resistant to chemicals and dines on oil slicks and auto exhaust – but fights like a bulldog when hooked.

That may be enough to keep a small cadre of us anglers content into the next couple of centuries, so that we can exploit anything found swimming in pure ammonia when we land on Mars.

As it’s certain that even though we acknowledge the debris field we’re wandering in today, we’ve not changed our spots one iota.

His ringtone the sound of a thousand foraging nightcrawlers

piedpiper_offish We can only assume a similar mechanism exists in fresh water, innocent fish lured away from the safety of fallen logs and deep pools to the shallow end where they can be caught.

After developing for weeks at sea, baby tropical fish rely on natural noises to find the coral reefs where they can survive and thrive. However, the researchers found that short exposure to artificial noise makes fish become attracted to inappropriate sounds.

All that’s really needed is science to isolate the comfortable sounds of field and brook, the bell like tones of hammy feet on cobble, and the sigh of a million mayflies sunbathing. Plug those into our cell phone ringtone, turn over some rocks, rake the bushes of prey, then wait for Mom to call summoning our hapless prey …

Dr Simpson said: “This result shows that fish can learn a new sound and remember it hours later, debunking the 3-second memory myth.”

As there are laws protecting invertebrates, a couple handfuls of mashed pet shop meal worms spray painted to resemble caddis, and we can create the association between sound and meal, taming an immense cadre of intensely hungry fish, all within casting distance, who seek only us.

It’s a recipe for a “guy” romance, if’n you ask me.

In noisy environments the breakdown of natural behaviour could have devastating impacts on success of populations and the replenishment of future fish stocks.

– via Yubanet.com

Were I to bust through the brush and discover some other worthy occupying The Spot, I’d move a respectable distance downstream, and then denude his sport with my siren’s call – saving untold fish in the process.

Marker – pied piper of salmonids, sound and fish, aquatic invertebrates, caddis, intensely hungry fish, fly fishing humor

Eastern Brook trout victimized by sloth and indolence

CouchTuber While the ignoble Brook Trout has enjoyed recent popularity due to its coronation as the Official Char of the Trout Underground, the question remains which Char is that exactly?

Brook trout are exhibiting two distinct sets of behaviors, and scientists are attempting to determine whether it’s in the early stages of divergence – splitting into two distinct albeit related species, one aggressive and actively foraging, the other content with a shady bank – and whatever drifts by.

It turns out that the telencephalon, the part of the brain linked to movement and spatial abilities, was relatively larger in the fish that went foraging away from shore, where they would have to recognize underwater landmarks to navigate and avoid becoming prey themselves.

But this raises other questions. Were the fish reacting to their environments differently, and developing separate behaviours in consequence?

A study now being completed by another of McLaughlin’s former students, points in that direction.

The brook charr that hugged the bank have higher levels of the hormone cortisol, which is associated with stress, so perhaps worry keeps them home.

– via the Toronto Star

Given the Trout Underground’s penchant for snoring hounds (whose telencephalon lacks folds or fissures) – and fatter slaw-smothered dogs, there can be little doubt the early nod for Official Char should be the couch potato worry-wart (Salvenus Stressor tuberosum) variant.

Leaving us lean and predatory coarse fishermen to adopt the “Big Brain on Brad” Salvenus – as the Official Snack of Them as Lives in Sewage.

… where that big brain can be an advantage – however short lived.

We captured 42 of 74 individuals in 1991 and 42 of 69 individuals in 1992. Each captured fish was killed immediately with a blow to the head, its fork length measured to the nearest millimeter, and the carcass placed in a labelled plastic tube and put on wet ice.

Oops, maybe not. A 57% capture rate in the first year followed by 61% in the subsequent season suggests a drop in IQ –  more smart fish were thumped than slumbering homebodies.

… and for them as fish for them regular, remember it may take two or three drifts before them Eastern tubers even think of stirring off that couch.

Eastern Brook trout, Salvenus fontinalis, char, trout underground, evolution of trout, trout fishing, fly fishing, telencephalon