Category Archives: wtf

Help with Prey ID

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Chuck

Long time no post, I know.  The main reason for that has been the sheer amount of field work I’ve found myself involved with this semester, all of which somehow came to a head in the past month.  On the … Continue reading →

Posted in gut contents, weird gross and awesome, wtf | Leave a comment

Misunderstanding and Abusing Ecosystem-based Management

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Chuck

That ever-reliable settler of internet arguments, Wikipedia, defines ecosystem-based management as “an environmental management approach that recognizes the full array of interactions within an ecosystem.”  At heart, this type of management is supposed to keep all the cogs of an … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, ecology, fisheries management, sharks, spiny dogfish, wtf | 3 Comments

Summer of the Shark: Best Red Drum Survey Ever

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Chuck

In fisheries and marine science you have days that, by any objective standard, should be an amazing day in the field.  You get a ton of samples, the gear (mostly) works as planned, you find out some interesting stuff, and … Continue reading →

Posted in cownose rays, fishing, gill nets, grad school, North Carolina, sharks, Summer of the Shark, wtf | Leave a comment

Summer of the Shark: Warts And All, Mostly Warts

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Chuck

Some field days just don’t go well.  This past Thursday I went out with Evan and Jeff to do a little opportunistic shark sampling in the Pamlico River while they were out collecting water samples for a striped bass project.  … Continue reading →

Posted in fishing, gill nets, grad school, gross, methods, North Carolina, research, Summer of the Shark, wtf | 1 Comment

The Case Against Dolphin-Safe Tuna

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Chuck

Here’s another shining example of a post I should have had up a week ago before life intervened.  Last week the World Trade Organization ruled that the dolphin-safe label on canned tuna unfairly discriminates against Mexican fishermen.  The debate could … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, dolphins, fisheries, wtf | Leave a comment

NOAA/NMFS Plans to Reduce “Problem Species” Populations

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Chuck

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is often painted by fishermen as a rabidly pro-conservation agency hell-bent on putting them out of a job by protecting every species they used to fish.  However, leaked internal memos show that the agency … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, cownose rays, dolphins, fisheries management, NOAA, spiny dogfish, whales, wtf | 3 Comments

Trawling is Not Plowing

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Chuck

This probably should have gone under the annual Southern Fried Science Week of Ocean Pseudoscience, but last week kept me busy enough to effectively prevent me from doing any writing here.  For some reason, I’ve been hearing from multiple fishermen, … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, fisheries, fisheries management, Ocean of Pseudoscience, research blogging, wtf | 3 Comments

PCS Phosphate Tries to Sneak Sulfur Burning Plant Into Morehead City

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Chuck

Something downright dirty is happening in the Morehead City Port, and it could potentially impact one of the most active parts of the North Carolina coast.  PCS Phosphate, a division of Potash Corporation, is apparently trying to sneak a sulfur … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, North Carolina, wtf | 2 Comments

Spiny Dogfish Devour Pelican!

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Chuck

Killer whales aren’t the only hungry predators off of North Carolina right now. A former student of mine just e-mailed me these pictures from a fishing trip off of Cape Lookout.  He was looking for stripers and saw commotion in … Continue reading →

Posted in behavior, ecology, fishing, photography, spiny dogfish, wtf | 1 Comment

Elasmobranch Fail from Animal Planet

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Chuck

Animal Planet has an article up called the Top 10 Most Endangered Fish Species, which is a pretty good light read and gets most of its facts straight.  It gets kudos for having some species that don’t normally make this … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, skates, wtf | 5 Comments