Oceanographers from the Applied Physics Lab are headed out to sea… hopefully. Follow along with Jim Thomson, principal oceanographer, as he blogs for the Scientist at Work section of the New York Times. They’ve already had some challenges, but maybe it’ll be smooth sailing from here…. 

A new study published in Science suggests that the world’s unassessed fisheries — those with relatively little data describing their status — are declining rapidly, but that this trend could be reversed. SAFS‘ Ray Hilborn is a co-author; read more here! 

A plastic pipe fence the length of a football field stretches across the Nisqually River near Joint Base Lewis-McChord property, signalling a new era in fisheries management for the Nisqually Tribe. The portable dam, which includes traps and augers to lift the fish into holding tanks, is designed to capture every fall chinook salmon that has made it through a gauntlet of fisheries that stretches from Alaska to the river. 

Ocean delicacy and ecological lynchpin, now the oyster’s genome has been mapped for all to explore. Learn why the oyster genome can help us cope with climate change, and why scientists like SAFS‘ Steven Roberts are psyched to get to work on it.   

NOAA’s newly released report on the state of fisheries in the US shows some progress in the recovery of fish stocks. SAFS‘ Ray Hilborn is quoted; read more here.