Adios El Nino

This spring El Niño conditions have weakened gradually after a winter of mild sea surface temperatures, now scientists at the National Weather Service have announced that the Pacific has officially entered La Niña conditions.

The last two occurances of La Niña conditions have coincided with record breaking returns of both salmon and steelhead in watersheds from Oregon to Vancouver Island.

LINK (Via: Osprey Steelhead News)

Scientists one step closer to fully sequencing the salmon genome

I wonder what kind of new frankenfish the aquaculture industry will be able to develop once they have the keys to the entire salmonid genetic code.  

Genome BC partnered with the Chilean Economic Development Agency, InnovaChile, Norwegian Research Council, Norwegian Fishery and Aquaculture Industry Research Fund to form the International Cooperation to Sequence the Atlantic Salmon Genome (the Cooperation).

LINK (Via: SIFY News)

Documenting salmon in Alaska's most threatened watershed

By the time their 2009 field season was over, the women had nominated 64 new miles of salmon stream for inclusion in the anadromous waters catalog.

"It was the perfect storm of conditions for fish"

The Wall Street Journal takes a stab at understanding our finned friends in the Pacific.

"The main reason for the population surge, scientists here say, is a brief period of cooling in the Northern Pacific ocean in 2008. Cooler currents brought in fatter plankton, which salmon and steelhead smolts thrive on, said ODFW spokesman Rick Swart. Temperatures have since warmed up again."

As Steazy as you wanna be

We're long time fans of Ryan Peterson's The Big Pull here at the Chum.  And, his daily chirp on the Ponoi River does nothing to diminish his stock with us for sure - must read ramblings here.

A Blog Devoted to Steelhead and Salmon RIvers

River journals from some of the world's classic S&S rivers. LINK