Scientists settle age-old debate over whether fish feel pain

They don't.

Fish do not even suffer when they are hooked and fighting for their lives, according to research by an international team. 

They say fish do not have a brain system or enough sensory receptors in the nerve cells  to experience suffering.

LINK (via: The Mail Online)

Pacific bluefin tuna numbers drop 96%

Time to cut back on the sushi.

The bluefin tuna, which has been endangered for several years and has the misfortune to be prized by Japanese sushi lovers, has suffered a catastrophic decline in stocks in the Northern Pacific Ocean, of more than 96%, according to new research published on Wednesday.

Equally concerning is the fact that about 90% of specimens currently fished are young fish that have not yet reproduced.

LINK (via: The Guardian)

Stay Classy PTTS

Save the Tarpon recently posted this telling picture of Silver King Entertainment/Professional Tarpon Tournament Series partner Rodney Taucher stepping on a dead tarpon that was later linked to the Women's PTTS tournament. 

Further evidence you should join some of the biggest names in angling and sign Save the Tarpon's petition to end the PTTS.

Hard-won fishing rights worthless without fish

You can put more fish in the river, but if the habitat isn't there, it doesn't matter.

Tribes in Western Washington are catching fewer fish than before the landmark Boldt decision of 1974 because continuing habitat loss is destroying salmon and steelhead runs.

LINK (via: The Seattle Times)

Definition of insanity? Here is a prophetic headline from 2004.

Boldt Decision very much alive 30 years later - The fish bonanza is over; now, preserving habitat is a paramount issue.

LINK (via: The Seattle PI)

Sunday Tuna

A single bluefin tuna has sold in Japan for $1.7 million, almost triple the record price set last year.

LINK (via: The BBC)

A step in the right direction before we kill the last bluefin?

North of the border.......

Scientists are denouncing Canada’s management of fish stocks as a commercially driven approach that is threatening to wipe out the bluefin.

It is the ultimate fish.

When its muscles fire up it can actually cook its own flesh.

Plan to save Pescadero steelhead succeeds

After 20 years of fish kills in the Pescadero Marsh, an experimental project to prevent steelhead trout from dying was so successful it will likely be tried again next year, federal officials said.

LINK (via: The Daily Journal)