The Legacy of Lonesome Larry

Sockeye entered the Columbia River this week, beginning a 900-mile migration that very nearly ended 20 years ago.

Only four Snake River sockeye made their way through eight dams and past nets and predators in 1992, a year after the fish that makes its home in Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley was listed as endangered. Only one male completed the final climb up the Snake and Salmon rivers to a weir on Redfish Lake Creek.....Lonesome Larry.

Lonesome Larry became the symbol of the entire Snake and Columbia salmon restoration program.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/05/19/2123092/the-legacy-oflonesome-larry.html#storylink=cpy

LINK (via: The Idaho Statesman)

Dicing Death - The fish more poisonous than cyanide

The Japanese delicacy of fugu, or blowfish, is so poisonous that for decades chefs in Tokyo who prepare it have been strictly licensed.

Getting a licence takes at least two years of training followed by a tough test which a third of applicants fail.

But now the city government is planning to ease the restrictions, allowing any restaurant to serve fugu, as long as they buy it from suppliers with the venomous parts removed.

Experienced fugu chef Kunio Miura shows how he prepares the blowfish and why he is worried about the change in rules.

Salmon Thirty Salmon 2

Alaska Airlines and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute on Monday unveiled the world’s largest king salmon. Stretching nearly 129 feet, the fish-themed design will adorn a Boeing 737-800 this fall.

The new “Salmon-Thirty-Salmon II” design is derived from an earlier version of the paint scheme Alaska Airlines unveiled on a 737-400 in 2005.

(via: The Spokesman Review)

Columbia River, Dworshak Reservoir Included In List Of Nation’s Top Bass Fishing Spots

Osprey Steelhead News explains how seriously fucked up that is.

Salmon poacher convicted on evidence from underwater cameras

Thomas Mullen, 57, was caught on film sniggering salmon – illegally dragging weighted hooks along the river bed – in a pool crammed with the fish.

LINK (via:Daily Record)

The Ear Bone is Connected To The.....

Like a tree’s concentric growth rings, a small bone within a fish’s ear reveals a history of its growth. And according to a new study of westslope cutthroat trout in the Flathead River system, the bone also contains a record of its migration pathways – a kind of geochemical diary of its life.

LINK (via: The Missoulian)