Pacific Salmon Season in Peril

UN warns of doomsday unless fishing industry changes

(NEWSER) - The world's oceans will run out of fish by 2050 at the rate fisherman are currently scooping them up, UN experts said yesterday, urging governments to impose limits that would allow populations to recover. “If the various estimates we have received come true, then … 40 years down the line, we, effectively, are out of fish,” the head of the UN's green economy initiative tells the AFP . More»

Crowd cheers as man pulls endangered fish to shore

(NEWSER) - A man may face charges for failing to help a black sea bass at Newport Beach, Calif. On Jan. 3, the fisherman accidentally caught the bass, which is a protected species. As boaters motored it ashore, he swam out, loosened the line and pulled the fish out of the water to help it—or so officials believed. But after videos of the incident—complete with cheering crowd—surfaced, officials decided to reexamine the case "to determine what, if any, crime occurred," a rep for a district attorney told the LA Times . More»

(NEWSER) - "A world of slime without human form": that was how Victor Hugo once described the Seine, the murky, polluted river that divides Paris in two. Yet recent efforts to clean up the river, from skimming the surface to pumping it with oxygen, have led to a resurgent fish population swimming through the French capital. You can even catch a salmon in the middle of town if you're lucky, though the Times of London says eating it might not be the best idea. More»

There aren't enough fish to sustain industry: fishery heads

(NEWSER) - Plummeting populations have led to a federal ban on commercial salmon fishing off California for the second straight year, raising fears that the industry will disappear altogether, the Los Angeles Times reports. "If we don't go fishing next year, we have to start thinking that salmon fishing in California is over," said a commercial fisherman. That possibility also affects numerous affiliated businesses, from ice producers to fuel suppliers. More»

Oceanic changes doomed '08 crop, but scientists can't agree on what caused them

(NEWSER) - West Coast fisheries has seen a 90% drop in salmon spawn since 2004, and while many blame rivers degraded by dams and diversions, some experts believe the problem has been pushed out to sea, reports Salon. Wind direction and water temperature have changed, bringing less food to the ocean’s surface for fish to feed on; whether climate change is to blame remains unclear. More»