Invasive Species

Washington Will at Last Regulate Fish Farms

Chances are pretty good that the last fish you ate never saw a river or the open ocean. That’s because the U.S. imports 84% of the 5 billion lbs. of seafood we consume each year and more than half of that is raised on fish farms and other aquaculture operations. The U.S., however, has not gotten invested in the aquaculture game as …

Guam: An Early Casualty of U.S.-China Tensions?

Sometime after World War II, the Boiga irregularis, or the brown tree snake, is believed to have hitched a ride on a cargo ship and landed on the Pacifc island of Guam. For the snake, Guam was paradise, home to a large number of prey and no natural predators. By 1970, the snake had colonized the entire island, pushing several bird

Invasive Species

My magazine story on invasive species and the Asian carp is out today, but you’ll have to go to a magazine newsstand to read it—paywall? (You remember what newsstands look like right? Or perhaps not.) But you can check out a photo essay from Benjamin Lowy on last week’s Redneck Fishing Tournament. I think I convinced him not use the …

Invasive Species: Catchin’ Some Asian Carp

As fish go, silver carp—one of several species that fall under the general term Asian carp—have a lot going for them. They are voracious feeders, they can grow to more than 40 lbs. and their bony bodies mean few Americans want to eat them, so they can escape the overfished fate of their more filletable cousins. But they do have …

Can a Lawsuit Stop the Asian Carp?

I’ve written before about fears over the voracious Asian carp, an invasive species that has moved up the Mississippi and now seems to have made its way into the Great Lakes, where it could cause significant havoc. Scientists have been warning for months about the threat the carp—a family of freshwater fish native to China and parts of …

Study: Cane Toads Will Thrive in Warmer World

Cane-toad fighting Australians had better brace themselves for more bad amphibious news this week. Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that the invasive, poisonous cane toad that has been goading the southern continent for the better part of the last century will have a distinct advantage as global temperatures …

Asian Carp All Up in the Great Lakes

Fishermen in Lake Clumet, Illinois—just six miles downstream from Lake Michigan—netted a fish on Tuesday. That generally being what fishermen do, the news wouldn’t have caused much of a stir, but this was no ordinary fish. They caught a 20 lb. bighead carp, one of a number of Asian carp species that were imported into the U.S. in …

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