Articles By Samantha Baxter

Long-term salmon run data from weirs like this one helped show alarming shifts in migration timing.

Fish Science and Species

Salmon Shifting Migration Habits Due to Climate Change

Migratory fish like salmon have long been traveling from their freshwater birth waters to the ocean and then returning to these lakes to spawn later in life. Unfortunately, recent changes in the climate have impacted these migration patterns, harming the population size of migratory salmon. As a keystone species—the...

  • Posted April 15, 2024
Striped bass swimming in the hatchery with tags carrying contact information.

Fish Science and Species

Considerations for Fish Stocking

Many fisheries engage in fish stocking, and the strategies they use can significantly influence the effectiveness of these efforts.

  • Posted April 1, 2024
Various boats fight fires caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

Aquaculture

Examining Deepwater Horizon: Impacts of Oil Spills on Aquatic Ecosystems

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill claimed 11 human lives and countless non-human lives. The infamous spill is just one of several large oil spills in the world’s oceans. Oil spills can have devastating impacts on the ecosystem and surrounding cities that rely on the ocean for...

  • Posted March 25, 2024
Lahontan cutthroat trout with floy tag.

Fish Science and Species

Predation Tags: Innovative Fish Tracking

Fish tagging has been a common practice for years, usually helping researchers track the movement of fish through a fishery or the return of migratory fish. While there are many different kinds of fish tags, the most common type are plastic tags and telemetry tags. With all fish tagging initiatives,...

  • Posted March 11, 2024
Round Goby

Fish Science and Species

Smallmouth Bass Thriving After Round Goby Invasion in the Great Lakes

A review of 20 years of data shows that smallmouth bass caught in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario have gotten heavier since round goby invaded.

  • Posted December 11, 2023
A post-op tagged smallmouth

Fish Science and Species

How Fishing Tournaments Impact Fisheries

Lake Champlain has been a popular bass fishing spot for some time, made so by its size, surrounding scenery and abundant fish habitat, especially in its northern end. The lake’s expansive tributaries also draw in anglers who like to rev up their fishing boats and make waves. But with...

  • Posted December 4, 2023
NASA image acquired August 28, 2010 of the Great Lakes.

Fish Science and Species

Using Models to Prepare the Great Lakes Fishery for Climate Change

Like other lake regions across the world, the Laurentian Great Lakes are facing changes as a result of climate change. In particular, the Great Lakes Fishery has been hit hard—impacting habitat suitability, fish health, water temperature, seasonal dynamics and other system components. While there is a long list of...

  • Posted November 27, 2023
A thousand-strong school of redfish in the shadow of a spotter plane

Fish Science and Species

Florida Redfish Population Look Healthier Decades After Commercial Ban

A new study shows the redfish population in some Florida waters look healthier decades after the 1987 commercial ban.

  • Posted November 20, 2023
Study co-author Dan Weller holding a Severn spawning muskie that was implanted with a radio-transmitter

Fish Science and Species

Impacts of Habitat Loss in the Georgian Bay Muskie Fishery

The Georgian Bay is infamous for its muskie fishery--however, the bay is not safe from environmental stressors and system decline.

  • Posted November 13, 2023
New gravel beach near downtown Windsor west of the Weeks fountain. It follows the Canadian shoreline, including parts of Peche Island.

Aquaculture

Undersized Muskie in the Detroit River: How a Viral Video Exposed a Troubling Trend

In 2014, two muskie anglers caught another angler catching and killing an undersized Muskie on the Detroit River.

  • Posted November 6, 2023
Michigan Department of Natural Resources stocking adult brook trout into an inland lake in Luce County.

Fish Science and Species

Brook Trout Management in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Fishery management divisions across the U.S. are tasked with not only maintaining natural resources but also the happiness of residents and visitors who utilize the lakes and waterways they manage. In terms of balancing the two, Cory Kovacs, a Fisheries Biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR),...

  • Posted October 30, 2023
tiger muskies

Fish Science and Species

Study: Impacts of Tiger Muskie on Stocked Salmonid Populations

Tiger muskies are popular with anglers as a highly sought-after trophy fish and have been thought to serve as protectors to hatchery fish.

  • Posted October 16, 2023
Advanced 4-inch Guadalupe Bass fingerlings ready to be stocked.

Fish Science and Species

Protecting Native Guadalupe Bass in Texas’ Hill Country

When the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department started stocking smallmouth bass in 1974, the goal was to improve fishing in Central Texas—however, the introduction created a new threat to the native Guadalupe bass. Because the two species did not evolve in the same waters, they never developed distinctive spawning...

  • Posted October 9, 2023

Aquaculture

NOAA Fisheries’ Annual Review Reveals a Continuous Decline in Overfishing

NOAA Fisheries division conducts annual reviews of the fisheries and assesses the status of various populations of fish stocks.

  • Posted September 25, 2023
Stocking Coasters at Legendary Waters Casino (Red Cliff) spring 2021. Hatchery staff stocked most of the fish from the boat, but there’s usually a few left that get stocked at the boat ramp.

Fisheries

Understanding Coaster Brook Trout Behavior in Lake Superior Informs Stocking Strategies

Coaster brook trout, referred to here as coasters, are a valuable resource in Lake Superior, particularly after the species experienced significant declines in the late 1800s due to overfishing and habitat degradation. Now, populations in the Bayfield Peninsula have limited natural reproduction and are supported by the stocking efforts...

  • Posted September 18, 2023
Juvenile eels, or elvers, in a ramp for passage study at Conowingo Dam.

Fish Science and Species

Eel Conservation in the United States and Europe

When you think of popular angling targets, a whole suite of species likely comes to mind: large- and smallmouth bass, trout and other salmonids, perhaps perch and walleye. But what about the eel?

  • Posted September 11, 2023
Lake Erie contains enough blue green algae to sustain a population of invasive carp.

Fish Science and Species

Habitat Suitability for Invasive Carp in the Great Lakes Region

The Great Lakes represent an ideal habitat for invasive carp, with a surplus of food from algal blooms and expansive waters.

  • Posted September 4, 2023
Flow at the Illinois River Watershed

Fish Science and Species

Native Predators Control Asian Carp Populations in Illinois

Similar to round gobies in the Great Lakes, invasive carp in some parts of the U.S. have become the meal of choice for native predators.

  • Posted August 28, 2023
31lb common carp, Bletiere, France.

Fish Science and Species

Carp Removal Perspectives and Strategies

Understanding the impacts of carp, many resource departments have instituted carp removal programs to help protect the native ecosystem.

  • Posted August 21, 2023
Midnight and rainbow parrotfishes swim alongside a Caribbean coral reef.

Fish Science and Species

Understanding the Roles of Native Species in Coral Reef Resilience

Much like other ecosystems, coral reefs are comprised of complex flora and fauna that contribute to the creation and structure of the reef.

  • Posted August 14, 2023