Articles By Samantha Baxter

Volunteers of the Angling Trust Water Quality Monitoring Network from Mottram St. Andrew’s Fishing Club test the water for signs of pollution.

Equipment

Anglers Take the Lead: England’s Angling Trust Monitors Rivers and Streams

Rivers and streams are home to millions of aquatic organisms, from freshwater mussels to the most sought-after trophy fish. However, freshwater resources across the world have been impacted by increased rates of pollution in recent years as industry and urban centers expand. Pollutants like phosphates, nitrates, and ammonia flood...

  • Posted April 28, 2025
A pair of otoliths which can be evaluated to assess fish growth rates.

Fisheries

Local and Regional Drivers of Fish Growth Rates

How and why fish grow are heavily dependent on environmental conditions like climatic processes and water quality. Understanding how exactly these stressors impact fisheries as a whole is essential to informed, sustainable management. Environmental variations like wind dynamics and temperatures (air and water) can lead to increases—or decreases—in growth...

  • Posted April 21, 2025
An oyster farm wil floating buoys organized in lines. An early warning system can monitor critical water quality conditions that impact oyster health and development.

Aquaculture

Designing an Observational Early Warning System for Aquaculture

Marine aquaculture operations require close environmental monitoring to ensure the farmed species remains healthy. Because ocean conditions can change quickly, continuous monitoring and the creation of a targeted early warning system can help protect aquaculture farms and their products. Monitoring key measurements like temperature, dissolved oxygen, climate, and wave/current...

  • Posted April 14, 2025
November's Bytemarks Lunch visit to the McKinley aquaculture fish farm.

Aquaculture

Real-Time Monitoring Systems in Aquaculture

Monitoring in aquaculture settings is necessary to avoid fish kills, expensive losses, disease, and other water quality-associated complications. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and other key water quality parameters can all impact growth and production in ponds, so operators must continuously monitor pens and modify conditions if possible. Real-time monitoring...

  • Posted April 7, 2025
Two biologists are pictures holding red bags containing one-year old mussels which are being released into Powell River.

Aquaculture

Impacts of Thermal Stress on Aquatic Species

Under a rapidly changing climate, aquatic ecosystems are exposed to varying temperature extremes—both cold and hot—leading to thermal stress on aquatic species. As defined by Scient Direct, thermal stress refers to the impact on normal physiological functioning as a result of extreme temperatures. Depending on the severity of temperatures...

  • Posted March 31, 2025
Weather station deployed on Davies Reef.

Fish Science and Species

Monitoring in the Great Barrier Reef

An international icon and critical marine ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is a cornerstone of the region’s economy, biodiversity, culture, and history. However, anthropogenic stressors and climate change have led to some deterioration of areas of the reef over time, making protecting the reef a challenge for local and...

  • Posted March 24, 2025
An aquaculture pond located along the south shore of Donghai Island, Guangdong. (East of Guitou Village). Such facilities are tied to high nitrous oxide emmissions.

Aquaculture

Mitigating Nitrous Oxide Production in Aquaculture Facilities

As the world turns its focus to refining aquaculture to meet global food demands sustainably, the environmental impact of aquaculture cannot be ignored. In particular, emissions of nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases from aquaculture facilities can worsen climate change due to their potent ozone depletion potential. As a...

  • Posted March 17, 2025
Dusk on the Yangtze River.

Fish Science and Species

Managing Fisheries Within and After Fishing Bans: The 10-Year Fishing Ban in the Yangtze River

Fishing bans are a common regulatory tool used by fishery managers and local officials to restrict the exploitation of a water body and use the time to improve the ecosystem. During a fishing ban, this ecosystem improvement may be natural, such as allowing dwindling populations of highly sought-after fish...

  • Posted March 10, 2025
A Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), which is a commonly stocked predatory fish.

Fisheries

Minimizing the Impacts of Predatory Fish Stocking with Habitat Enhancement

While the term “fish stocking” may conjure up images of conservation measures deployed by fishery managers to stock endangered native fish, it can also refer to stocking predatory fish, including non-native species, for the sake of anglers. Even in cases where native predators are stocked, fishery managers must balance efforts...

  • Posted March 3, 2025
satellite imagery from the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellites. The image shows eddies, the Loop Current, river plumes and coastal circulation in the Gulf of Mexico using different colors.

Fish Science and Species

Using Satellites to Monitor Fisheries and Improve Sustainability

While there are many methods used to monitor the world’s oceans and lakes, remote sensing technologies like satellites have become more popular for large-scale viewing of water quality, seabed topography, coral reef health, sea surface characteristics and other environmental conditions. For example, Maury Estes, a principal research scientist with...

  • Posted February 24, 2025
Coastline of Gokova Bay, Turkey, a designated marine protected area.

Fish Science and Species

Anglers and Marine Protected Areas: Bridging Public Perceptions and Fisheries Management

The success of various fishery management approaches heavily depends on the participation, investment, and perceptions of stakeholders like anglers, conservation groups, scientists, managers, and the general public. Commercial and recreational anglers, in particular, can make or break conservation efforts like marine protected areas (MPAs). As extractive users, anglers rely...

  • Posted February 17, 2025
Rainbow trout observed in a pocket of water in the Arroyo Seco after they were relocated during from the San Gabriel River due to wildfires.

Fish Science and Species

What Happens to Fish During Wildfires?

While wildfires’ impact on the land is well-known, their influence on waterways and the aquatic life that reside there is a bit more complex. Beyond initial damages, fish are also uniquely impacted by wildfires in terms of how water quality and physical stream conditions change as a result of...

  • Posted February 10, 2025
A group of anglers fishing in National Elk Refuge.

Fisheries

Benefits and Barriers to Effective Knowledge Exchange Between Commercial Anglers and Fisheries Researchers

Local Ecological Knowledge, or LEK, has become a popular topic in fisheries research and management in recent years as the need for local knowledge and investment from commercial anglers and community members is necessary to implement management strategies successfully. LEK can originate from any local group, such as indigenous...

  • Posted February 3, 2025
Lake Erie from Chatham-Kent Highway 3, Chatham-Kent, Ontario

Fish Science and Species

Two-Eyed Seeing Approach in Fisheries Management and Research

The Two-Eyed Seeing approach is a joint strategy that requires the equal collaboration of state and government agencies and Indigenous peoples. While these two groups have historically operated separately, the Two-Eyed Seeing approach calls for management and research topics to include the perspectives, needs, and knowledge of Indigenous populations...

  • Posted January 27, 2025
Arctic char in a tank. This species was the focus of a 2024 characterization study.

Fish Science and Species

The Importance of Characterization in Fishery Management

Each species has its niche in its native ecosystem; from the smallest microorganism to larger predator species, each plays an important role in the ecological chain. This uniqueness from species to species makes characterization an essential component of fishery management. Characterization means defining habitat, breeding and spawning behaviors, populations,...

  • Posted January 20, 2025
The Bangrin Mangrove Marine Protected Areas situated at Bani, Pangasinan, Philippines.

Fish Science and Species

Evaluating the Efficacy of Marine Protected Areas

Managers of multi-use fisheries face the complex challenge of managing angler and biodiversity needs in addition to ensuring the water resource is protected. One strategy that resource management departments have implemented in saltwater fisheries is the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs), which can vary in size, age, and...

  • Posted January 13, 2025
A research station monitors spawning sockeye salmon on their way from the Okhotsk Sea into Kuril Lake.

Fish Science and Species

Transdisciplinary Fisheries Research: Improving and Diversifying Management Techniques

Fishery managers across the world are all too familiar with the challenge of balancing the various demands of a multi-use fishery resource. As a result, a 2022 study published in Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries proposes that transdisciplinary fisheries research is necessary to solve the “wicked problem.”  Management...

  • Posted January 6, 2025
Fish farming in Monetnegro

Aquaculture

IoT in Fish Farming: How Cloud-Based Innovation Improve Aquaculture Operations

Aquaculture, also referred to as fish farming, is globally recognized as an essential component of ensuring that future generations do not suffer from food insecurity. While current operations allow for high yields, researchers and fish farm managers are looking for ways to update operations to be more productive and...

  • Posted December 30, 2024
Harmful algal blooms, dead zones, and fish kills are the results of a process called eutrophication—which begins with the increased load of nutrients to estuaries and coastal waters. The Mississippi River carries millions of tons of nutrient-rich sediment into the Gulf each year.

Fish Science and Species

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Understanding Fisheries and Eutrophication

While eutrophication is often portrayed as a negative in limnological circles, fisheries managers may have a different view of high productivity. Though high levels are linked to poor water quality, productive water bodies tend to increase fish yields thanks to increased food production for fish. Effects of Eutrophication Of...

  • Posted December 23, 2024
Photo of several aquaculture tanks that that recirculate water--one type of sustainable aquaculture

Aquaculture

Creating Sustainable Aquaculture Practices for the Future

Perfecting sustainable aquaculture is a key component to ensuring that future generations have access to food. In particular, as the global population increases, aquaculture needs to become more efficient and preserve natural resources at the same time.  While aquaculture is generally seen as a necessary step toward ensuring global...

  • Posted December 16, 2024