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Journal Reviews

Estimating the Annual Spawning Run Size and Population Size of the Southern Distinct Population Segment of Green Sturgeon

The Southern Distinct Population Segment of Green Sturgeon Acipenser medirostris spawns in the Sacramento River, California, and is listed as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. We estimated the spawning run size and population size in 2010–2015 by using dual-frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) sampling, underwater video camera species identification, and acoustic tag detections. Spawning... Read More

Differences in Mercury Exposure among Wisconsin  Anglers Arising from Fish Consumption Preferences and Advisory Awareness

Fish are frequently contaminated with mercury, raising concerns about the human health consequences of eating fish. We quantified mercury exposure and awareness of health advisories among three major ethnic groups of anglers in Madison, Wisconsin, using surveys of species preferences and consumption rates. African American anglers reported eating double and triple the amount of fish... Read More

Delta Smelt and Water Politics in California

The Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus is a small translucent fish that lives in the heart of California’s water distribution system. It is an endemic species that is on verge of extinction, largely because it is in direct competition with people for water. This article discusses the controversy surrounding this fish by describing (1) the biology... Read More

A New Look at a Prized and Controversial Coastal Species

Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus are a highly prized and contested species because of their popularity with both sport and commercial fishers, and stock assessments are critical. Mandy Karnauskas and her colleagues implemented intensive fishery independent surveys that added valuable information on the spatial distributions of different age classes to answer questions their broad- scale demographics... Read More

Effective Disease Prevention without Antibiotics

Growing concerns with antibiotic resistance have increased the need for non antibiotic disease treatments. Atefeh Sheikhlar and colleagues challenged Sharptail Catfish Clarias gariepinus with the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila and compared growth and survival among untreated controls, treatment with the antibiotic oxytetracyline, and varying concentrations of an extract of the Asian asthma- plant Euphorbia hirta that... Read More

The Cutting Edge of Technology

Technological advances have led to unprecedented insights into animal movements, and this study by Eric Richer and his colleagues added GPS capability to radio- frequency identification (RFID) tags to accurately determine near- exact locations of fi sh within streams such that far more precise estimates of habitat use are now attainable. As a bonus, it... Read More

Cluster Sampling Made Easy

WINNER: 2014 Best Paper, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society Cluster sampling is one of the most common survey designs used in fisheries research to sample fish populations. However, many researchers don’t take clustering into account when they are analyzing their data, largely due to lack of awareness. When the effect of clustering is ignored,... Read More

Postsmolt Growth More Important than Initial Growth at Sea

WINNER: 2014 Best Paper, Marine and Coastal Fisheries Over the last 20-30 years, the abundance of steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Keogh River, British Columbia, has declined substantially. Increased marine mortality has been cited as the main reason for this decline, with size at ocean entry appearing to be the main factor determining recruitment. However,... Read More