Tippets: Wet Spring Helps Brookies, Secrets of Salmon Migration, Proposed Michigan Chumming Ban, Forage Fish Value

June 1, 2016 By: Erin Block

  • A cool and wet spring in the Northeast has helped brook trout populations threatened by climate change and acid rain. John Hopewell writes about the challenges facing this native fish as well as the inroads being made. Via The Washington Post.
  • Scientists are using hatchery steelhead in Oregon to study how wild salmon in Alaska’s Bristol Bay find their way back to their home streams. “They have subtle differences in life history but in terms of the social aspects and the migration and the orientation, I think they are a good model,” says Peter Westley, an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Via KTOO.
  • The Natural Resources Commission of Michigan is considering banning the practice of chumming. The issue is already raising hackles and will be discussed at an upcoming meeting in Gaylord, MI on June 9, 2016.
  • A recent short film from Pew Charitable Trusts explains how small fish play a big role in the ocean’s ecosystem. The film is hosted by cartoonist Jim Toomey, creator of Sherman’s Lagoon and explains what “forage fish” are and why they matter.