'It can leave a nasty wound that takes six or seven years to stop weeping'

The four hour stalemate was only broken when the fish became tired and Mr Wade was finally able to lift it towards the surface.

Mr. Wade said: 'If you get the barb through an artery or body cavity it can be fatal. It normally attacks feet and ankles from where people tread on them by accident.'

LINK (Via: The Mail Online)

He Was Drunk, Really Drunk

Or it could have been a case of suicide by pirahnas.

Authorities say piranhas attacked and killed a young man who leaped into a river infested with the flesh-eating fish in northeastern Bolivia.

LINK (Via: The Huffington Post)

Lower Coumbia Chum Getting a Boost!

Via Osprey Steelhead News comes some good news regarding our namesake.

Listed Chum Salmon in the Lower Columbia River are seeing better than average returns this year. The fish which spawn in tributaries and a few mainstem areas of the Columbia River below Bonneville are wrapping up spawning and WDFW's counts of fish in the area have been encouraging. Check out this article from the Columbia Basin Bulletin on Chum counts this year and some restoration projects that are starting to pay dividends.

LINK

Nope, no ISA virus here

As you may recall some salmon from British Columbia recently tested positive for an Infectous Salmon Anemia virus. While most of the civilized world reacted with alarm, the DFO in Canada came out and said that results were inconclusive at best.

Well guess what?

According to the DFO's own leaked document from 2004, testing done in 2002 and 2003 "lead us to conclude that an asymptomatic form of infectious salmon anemia occurs among some species of wild Pacific salmon in the north Pacific."

A 2004 draft manuscript, leaked out of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, indicates that the deadly infectious salmon anemia virus was identified eight years ago in coho, pink and sockeye salmon taken from southern British Columbia, Southeast Alaska and Bering Sea waters.

Testing done in 2002 and 2003 "lead us to conclude that an asymptomatic form of infectious salmon anemia occurs among some species of wild Pacific salmon in the north Pacific," said the manuscript. 

But a senior official at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently rejected a request to submit the manuscript for publication.

Its lead author was Molly Kilbenge, a scientist working out of the Canadian government's Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C. Three other authors were listed.

LINK (Via: The Seattle PI)

Fish Stimulus Package

Scheduled to be complete in late 2012, a new 60 million dollar fish passage on the North Umpqua will open spawning beds on the upper river for the first time in 60 years. PacifiCorp, who owns the dam, estimated in the mid 90's that it would cost 12 million to build the passage.

Some coservationists are skeptical it will even work.

LINK (Via: The Bend Bulletin)

Anglers condemn cash deal with fish farmers

Ooh yah cun'!

The Scottish Anglers National Association, Scotland's largest angling organization, has been accused of selling its principles down the river after it emerged it has taken money from a corporate fish farming company.

LINK (Via: Scotland.com)