Make it a Game Fish!

An important update from Stripers Forever on the upcoming hearing on H.206.

Keep America Fishing has built out a webpage that makes it very easy to send a letter on your behalf to the most important Massachusetts legislators on the committee who will be hearing H.206, the bill to make striped bass strictly a game fish in the waters off Massachusetts. Please hit the link and take a few minutes to help the cause.

LINK

If your zip code is outside the zip codes of the target legislators you will need to enter your street address after entering your zip code. A letter will then come up that you can send as is or modify if you wish.

Legislators friendly to the effort efforts have told Stripers Forever that the communications to MA legislators are making a big difference. They do care what you say and they are counting heads!

Please, send that e-mail today and help provide great striped bass fishing for the future.

Flying Fish Ace Wind-Tunnel Tests

Put flying fish in a wind tunnel, and they’re as aerodynamically polished as most birds.

“The gliding performance of flying fish is comparable to those of bird wings such as the hawk, petrel and wood duck.”

LINK (Via: Wired)

“In my research, I have seen lots of malformed baby fish, but never one with two heads”

These images of mutated trout were buried in the appendix of a scientific report by mining company JR Simplot whose mining operations have polluted creeks in Southern Idaho. Incredibly the company's report concluded that it would be safe to allow selenium , a metal byproduct of mining that is toxic to fish and birds, to remain in area creeks at higher levels than are now permitted under regulatory guidelines.

The EPA was initially inclined to go along with the report's findings until somebody pointed out the mutated trout. Further scientific review has now found the companies research, "wanting."

LINK (Via:The NY Times)

Selenium pollution is one of the byproducts of phosphate mining. Believe it or not southern Idaho has 17 Superfund sites as a result of phospate mining by Simplot, Agrium, Monsanto and Rhodia.

Patagonia's The Cleanest Line featured a piece a year ago by Jeremiah Watts that focused on this issue and the groups working to protect southeast Idaho’s waters, wildlife, and wildlands.

LINK

Future Soldiers Could Go to War Wearing Fish-Scale Armor

Here's a question - if piranhas are so ferocious and will attack anything, why aren't they the only fish in the Amazon? Well, in some cases, it's because other fish possess bite-proof armor. The 300-pound (136-kg) Arapaima is just such a fish. In the dry season, when water levels get low, Arapaima are forced to share relatively small bodies of water with piranhas. Their tough-but-flexible scales, however, allow them to remain unharmed. A scientist from the University of California, San Diego is now taking a closer look at those scales, with an eye towards applying their secrets to human technology such as body armor.

LINK (Via: Gizmag)

Pull!!

A bill introduced by Illinois Rep. Dave Winters, would allow a statewide pilot program that would “permit licensed individuals to shoot Asian carp with a shotgun off of a motorboat in the Illinois River beginning with the 2013 licensing year,” provided that said individuals have the proper licenses and are using a specific ammunition.

LINK (Via Petersens Hunting)

Asian Carp, the other white meat

Got ideas for fighting aquatic invasive species?

Friday is the last day for public comment on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' list of available options for controlling non-native nuisance species, such as Asian carp in the Great Lakes.

LINK (Via: M LIVE)