Interesting Times at NOAA

I live!  Thanksgiving break lead into one of the busiest academic times I’ve ever had.  When I was working on my Master’s, I used to think PhD Comics were hyperbole, that there was no way it could be that bad.  Now that I’m actually in…

Dogfish Quota Officially Increased

It’s good to be back.  Lots of news in the dogfish and shark fisheries while I’ve been busy. The ASMFC officially announced that they would be increasing next year’s spiny dogfish quota to 30 million pounds, up from the 20 million pounds this year.  The…

Menhaden Matter, Dammit

Turns out moving apartments takes up more time than expected.  Then you turn around and 12 days have passed.  I’ve officially become one of those deadbeat bloggers I make fun of.  Until I get a proper post, enjoy this interesting infographic from Pew.

Is Increased Dogfish Quota the Answer?

Tip o’ the hat to Shark Advocates for bringing this to my attention.  According to the Press of Atlantic City, the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council has tentatively approved a 78.5% increase in the Atlantic spiny dogfish quota for this year.  This would bring the coast-wide…

Trawling is Not Plowing

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, people who have worked with…

Duke Grad Student Mini-Symposium Recap

This past weekend I headed down to beautiful sunny Beaufort, North Carolina for the semi-biannual (is that even a word?) Duke Grad Student Mini-Symposium.  This event is open to all North Carolina-based universities willing to send grad students to check out other students’ research, develop…

North Pacific Spiny Dogfish Get Labeled

The ongoing saga of whether spiny dogfish can truly be considered a “sustainable” fishery continues (tip o’ the hat to David).  North Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) were in consideration for Marine Stewardship Council sustainability certification a little less than a year ago, and now…

AFS 2011 – Big Ol’ Recap

I’ve spent the last week at the 141st Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, where nearly 4,000 fish nerds from the worlds of academia, management, and even art descended on Seattle for four days of talks, socials, interesting conversation over beer.  It was good…

101 Uses for Shark Puke Part 2: How Much Do Sharks Eat?

The last time I wrote about the usefulness of shark puke, I discussed a few of the less obvious uses of diet studies on sharks.  As apex predators, sharks can sample a wide variety of potential prey species, and diet studies can provide just as…

AES 2011 Day 4

Today marked the last official day of shark talks at JMIH/AES, though there will still be plenty of bony fish a reptile talks tomorrow.  Most likely I’ll be exploring Minneapolis, and then it’s time for the long trip back and a little mini-vacation.  Tonight is…