Background Articles

Some Indigenous people are applauding the “precautionary” approach several nations are taking to protect the environment through a new moratorium on commercial fishing in the High Arctic.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is planning to apply the fish-killing chemical rotenone to eight lakes in the Tote Road area south of Soldotna next week.

A new study links rapid deoxygenation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to two powerful currents: the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current.

Commercial salmon fisheries in Washington, Oregon, and California are eligible for a portion of $20 million in disaster assistance after federal officials determined fishery failures occurred.

Redmap, a new and interactive website, invites the Australian community to spot, log and map marine species that are uncommon in Australia, or along particular parts of our coast.

Foraging strategies and their resulting efficiency (energy gain to cost ratio) affect animals' survival and reproductive success and can be linked to population dynamics. However, they have rarely been studied quantitatively in free-ranging animals. We investigated foraging strategies and efficiencies of wild northern fur seals Callorhinus ursinus during their breeding season to understand potential links to the observed population decline in the Bering Sea. We equipped 20 lactating females with biologgers to determine at-sea foraging behaviours. We measured energy expenditure while foraging using the doubly-labelled water method, and energy gained using (1) the types and energy densities of prey consumed, and (2) the number of prey capture attempts (from acceleration data). Our results show that seals employed 2 foraging strategies: one group (40\%) fed mostly in oceanic waters on small, high energy-density prey, while the other (60\%) stayed over the shallow continental shelf feeding mostly on larger, lower quality fish. Females foraging in oceanic waters captured 3 times more prey, and had double the foraging efficiencies of females that foraged on-shelf in neritic waters. However, neritic seals made comparatively shorter trips, and likely fed their pups similar to 20 to 25\% more frequently. The presence of these strategies which either favor foraging efficiency (energy) or frequency of nursing (time) might be maintained in the population because they have similar net fitness outcomes. However, neither strategy appears to simultaneously maximize time and energy allocated to nursing, with potential impacts on the survival of pups during their first year at sea.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It may be time for local eateries to explore black sea bass recipes. Warmer waters off Rhode Island have caused a spike for this species, and loosened regulations are reeli…

Salmon used to be infrequent visitors to the Mackenzie River and communities of the Arctic, but more species have begun to show up in the North more often and in greater numbers than ever before.

Warming waters have reduced the harvest of Alaska's prized Copper River salmon to just a fraction of last year's harvest, Alaska biologists say.

ANCHORAGE — The commercial salmon harvest in Alaska's Copper River is so far the second lowest in 50 years, state officials said. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's fish...

Late last year one of the world’s largest credit rating agencies announced that climate change would have an economic impact on the U.S.

Oversight of fish farming companies is lacking according to ecologist Cristian Gallo of the Westfjords Natural History Institute.

Only 1,123 adult winter Chinook salmon, once one of the biggest salmon runs on the Sacramento River and its tributaries, returned to the Sacramento Valley in 2017, according to a report sent to the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) by the...

Climate change has warmed the waters east of Tasmania at four times the speed of the global average. But the heatwave of the southern summer of 2015/2016 was something exceptional, damaging fisheries and bringing new species to the island. It's a sign of things to come, say the researchers examining these events.

Serious and unusual outbreaks of illness from eating raw or undercooked walrus to call attention to the risks.

Keeping tabs on capelin — from the shores of the Atlantic ocean to the world wide web.

In the Bering Sea, near the edge the continental shelf, fishermen are trying to escape a predator that seems to outwit them at every turn, stripping their fishing lines and lurking behind their vessels.

The latest research shows that diminishing Arctic sea ice caused by climate change is forcing some species to travel further to find food or look for alternative food sources.

A major new international study has recognized the crucial role Arctic Indigenous Peoples have to play in ecological restoration efforts that help build resilience to major climate-change driven shifts in the distribution of land, marine and freshwater species.

Wild salmon from the Pacific coast of North America may be infected with Japanese tapeworms, according to a study in a CDC-published journal.