Threatened fish take historic helicopter ride in Banff National Park

It’s only a three-minute ride, or a few kilometres as the crow flies, but it’s a historic move for both Banff National Park and the overall recovery of a species at risk.

LINK (via:The Calgary Herald)

Plan to ease steelhead barriers stirs concerns about frogs

Image: USFWS/Rick Kuyper

Faster than a frog can hop over a drought-shrunken creek, San Francisco water officials' plan to help restore wild fish has spiraled into a regulatory debate highlighting the difficulty of trying to undo damage to one species without hurting others.

LINK (via: Contra Costa Times)

More High Water Temperature Fish Issues

An estimated 109 spring chinook died last week on the upper section of the Middle Fork John Day River, apparently due to low river flows and warm temperatures.

LINK (via: The Statesman Journal)

Unusually warm waters in the Columbia River Basin have prompted federal officials to invoke measures to help migrating fish survive the hostile conditions.

As river temperatures climb to record highs while water flow continues to drop, the Wild Fish Conservancy is calling for an emergency closure of fisheries across the West Coast where temperatures are higher than 65-degrees.

LINK (via:King5)

Numerous decades-old sturgeon being found dead in the Columbia River near the Tri-Cities are prompting a proposal to close catch-and-release fishing for the species.

Theories for the sturgeon deaths include the possibility that the sockeyes they’re eating in this year’s big salmon run could be diseased from migrating upstream in the Columbia’s unusually warm water conditions.

Another theory, Hoffarth said, suggests that the sturgeon are stressed by the combination of dramatically lower-than-normal Columbia flows with higher-than-normal July water temperatures.

LINK (via: The Spokesman)

Smelling a Fish May Improve Critical Thinking Skills

New research shows that the smell of fish not only makes people more suspicious, but may boost critical thinking skills. 

LINK (via: Smithsonian)

A steelhead at the Oregon Zoo. | Photo: cacophony/Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons License Aquatic A Confusing, Compelling Wild Fish: Steelhead in the Delta

Steelhead, quite frankly, are confusing.

For one thing, they're rainbow trout. That's not a metaphor. Steelhead and rainbow trout are the same species: Oncorhynchus mykiss. In California waters, they're the same subpecies as the coastal rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus. For some time it was assumed that close study would eventually reveal a significant genetic difference between rainbow trout and steelhead, because there's definitely a distinct behavioral difference between the two: steelhead spend much of their adult lives in the ocean, while rainbow trout stay in fresh water their whole lives.

LINK (via:KCET)

Single Fish Kills 400,000 Spring Chinook at Oregon Hatchery

Image:Tess McBride, US Fish and Wildlife Service

No, it wasn’t a case of some super-predator breaking into the raceways to gobble up all those young salmon. Instead, officials said that the fish somehow wedged itself into an intake pipe and cut off freshwater from coming into the raceway.

“A fish carcass clogged an intake pipe at Rock Creek Hatchery, shutting off the flow of water to a raceway, killing 400,000 spring Chinook pre-smolts.

LINK (via: Outdoor Hub)