Fish & Fisheries

"The Chinook salmon that Randy Settler and other Yakama tribal fishermen are pulling from the Columbia River are large and plentiful this summer, part of one of the biggest spawning runs since the 1960s. It is a sign, they say, of the river’s revitalization, through pollution regulations and ambitious fish hatchery programs. But barely four miles upstream from the fishermen’s nets, state workers are still cleaning up after a major oil train derailment in June."

"Times are tough for Chesapeake oysters. For one thing, they used to be bigger. "If you look at what people were saying back in the 1600s and 1700s about oysters, people had to cut them in half before they could even eat them," says Denise Breitburg, an ecologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center."

"There was a time when Sandra Gologergen's freezer never ran out. Packed with traditional Inuit foods like whale, walrus, seal and fish, her freezer has been an essential lifeline, ensuring her husband, three kids and grandson make it through the long harsh winters of Savoonga, Alaska. 'Then that changed,' she says."

"American fishermen are digging in for a fight over a proposal to shut down the vestiges of the U.S. harvest of shark fins, prized for soup and traditional medicine in Asia, and send a message to the rest of the world."

"Oysters were once so abundant in New Jersey that vacationers would clamber off trains, wade into the water and pluck handfuls to roast for dinner."

"Inland fish play critical roles in North American ecosystems and economics: In the U.S. alone in 2011, freshwater anglers spent more than $30 billion on their hobby, generating $73 billion in economic output. And fish help keep nature in balance as they feed on aquatic plants and animals and in turn provide sustenance to iconic species such as eagles, bears and osprey."

"A blue whale found tangled in plastic rope off California has become a symbol for a little-known but growing hazard faced by the ocean's largest creatures along the U.S. Pacific Coast - commercial crab traps dotting the sea floor and drifting astray by the thousands."

"The stink from Vietnam’s fish kill scandal — which left some 70 tons of dead fish scattered across the beaches of four of the country’s provinces and fishermen out of work — is symptomatic of something greater than worries about food security and the environment: access to information and the ability to distribute it."

"The summer crab season has begun on the mid-Atlantic seaboard and supplies of the crustaceans in the largest U.S. estuary are improving, according to a survey, meaning crab lovers will enjoy bountiful feasts."

"SEABROOK, N.H. — The cod isn't just a fish to David Goethel. It's his identity, his ticket to middle-class life, his link to a historic industry."