salmon news stories on Newser

Oceans Acidifying at Highest Rate in 300M Years

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:32:14 CST

Industrial emissions are causing the oceans to acidify at a fast rate—the fastest in 300 million years, say researchers from Columbia University. That could spell danger for sea creatures. In the last century alone, the pH of the oceans dropped by 0.1 units. That's 10 times faster than...

Lethal Virus Hits Pacific Salmon

Rob Quinn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:54:34 CDT

The backbone of the Pacific Northwest ecosystem—and a multi-billion dollar industry—is in serious danger, scientists warn. A lethal and highly contagious virus has been found for the first time in wild salmon in the region, having possibly spread from fish farms that imported millions of Atlantic salmon eggs,...

Coming to Your Plate: Genetically Modified Salmon

Kevin Spak — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:49:17 CDT

The FDA has declared a genetically engineered salmon safe for human consumption, putting it one brief swim away from a supermarket near you. Dubbed AquAdvantage Salmon, the Massachusetts-bred fish have been enhanced with a gene from an ocean pout—an eel-like fish—that allows them to grow all year round,...

Why I Finally Love Farmed Fish

Emily Rauhala — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:37:00 CDT

Not even a fish-loving foodie can justify the environmental cost of wild-caught salmon . "If I could, I would only eat wild," writes Josh Ozersky for Time. "But I can't in good conscience." Sure, farmed salmon's "taste is duller, the flesh flabbier, the finish forgettable." But "with wild populations getting wiped...

Alaska Exports Salmon Vodka

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:06:51 CDT

Wasilla, Alaska, is about to become known for something other than Sarah Palin: vodka flavored with smoked salmon. The scary-sounding liquor is the brainchild of the Alaska Distillery, and there was “some madness and some drunkenness involved” in its creation, one partner tells the AP . “I was trying to think...

Genetically Altered Salmon May Be on Tables Soon

John Johnson — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:38:28 CDT

A side of growth hormone with your salmon? The FDA is giving what the New York Times calls serious consideration to genetically altered salmon. The first public meeting will probably take place in the fall, and the frankenfish could be on tables in 2 to 3 years. Genetically altered crops...

Salmon Protections Strike Calif.'s New '49ers

Rob Quinn — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:44:28 CST

Prospectors seeking to join California's new gold rush are facing an upstream battle amid moves to protect the state's salmon stocks. Suction dredge mining, which uses gas-powered machines to scrape gold from river beds, has been banned while its environmental impact is reviewed, a process expected to take until 2011....

Paris Anglers Again Catch Salmon in Seine

Jason Farago — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:23:11 CDT

"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...

In Alaska, Melting Glaciers Cause Land to Rise

Sarah Quinn — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:01:58 CDT

Around Juneau, Alaska, climate change is causing an unexpected problem, the New York Times reports: As glaciers melt, the land is rising away from the sea. The change—10 feet in about 200 years—is enough to dry up local streams and wetland habitats, and is the result of land...