Background Articles

Northern states are implementing measures to prevent the spread of invasive "super pigs" from Canada, which are a crossbreed of wild boar and domestic swine, causing significant ecological and agricultural damage.

The increase in pink salmon population in warmer waters is negatively impacting the food chain and causing a decline in other species in the North Pacific Ocean, according to a new study.

The Western Arctic Caribou Herd in Alaska has continued to decline, with a 7% decrease in population from the previous year, prompting concerns about the need for harvest reduction to preserve the herd.

Common garter snakes are no longer rare in southwestern Newfoundland, and researchers are conducting genetic work to determine their origin.

Monkshood, a common yet highly poisonous plant in Alaska, has seen an unusual bloom this year, raising concerns about its safety among hikers and gardeners. Experts affirm that while the plant is toxic, casual contact is unlikely to cause harm.

An entomologist who works with the N.W.T. government said mosquito populations throughout the territory are lower than average. That’s because most types of mosquitoes "love water," and conditions in parts of the territory have been hot and dry instead. 

You could say Dave Jackson is Kodiak’s carrot kingpin. Carrots are one of the key vegetables in the gardening/farming practices in the archipelago's of Alaska

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has allowed for 1,500 grey seals to be hunted in the Baltic Sea and 630 harbour seals on the west coast.

Large, high-fat copepods — distantly related to shrimp and crab — are dwindling and loosing fat with the lack of sea ice from global warming.

Only certain Alaska Native people can hunt sea otters. But as otter populations have grown, so have calls to loosen federal laws protecting them.

The nation's six million feral pigs are destroying crops and preying on endangered species. But the most serious threat they pose is to human health.

A farmer in South Iceland is resorting to a unique method to combat a unique threat to his grain crops. RÚV reports that Björgvín Þór Harðarson, a pig and grain farmer in Laxárdalur, is using falcon-shaped kites to scare away the whooper swans that are consuming and causing significant damage to his crops.

As big fish crop up in unexpected places, experts say that they're relocating to new environments as waters warm.

For the past 5-6 years, salmon runs all over Bristol Bay have been very strong.“This year’s record-breaking return is the result of this careful stewardship,” said executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay. “Our lands and waters must be protected so future generations can continue our way of life and Bristol Bay can remain the salmon stronghold for the planet.”

An endangered species of whale that lives off the East Coast is having its best season for new babies in several years.

For the fourth year in a row, weekly summer water quality tests show that most Ketchikan beaches have elevated levels of bacteria that could make people sick. That happened this year even without dozens of cruise ships sailing through the Inside Passage and discharging wastewater.

Bocaccio rockfish have made a huge comeback in B.C. since being deemed endangered in 2013, but the success story is being met with some trepidation as trawler fishermen can’t seem to avoid netting them now.

Some biologists think the trend is related to the reduced hunting pressure from Outside hunters this year.

The shrinking of chinook, sockeye, coho and chum salmon has a negative impact on the number of eggs fish lay, but smaller body sizes also mean fewer meals, fewer commercial fishing dollars and fewer nutrients transported into rivers every year.

The size of salmon returning to rivers in Alaska has declined dramatically over the past 60 years because they are spending fewer years at sea, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.