Why Now’s the Time To Tell a Good Fish Tale

Fishing is a profound way to discover nature and our part in it. Above, a fly fisher on the Deschutes River in central Oregon. Photo: Bureau of Land Management/Bob Wick via Flickr Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0).

TipSheet: Why Now’s the Time To Tell a Good Fish Tale

By Joseph A. Davis

The recreational fishing season has started in most parts of the United States. Wherever you are, there’s a fishing hole or hatchery near you. And fish stories.

Local news outlets never tire of the opening-day fishing season report — which has the added benefit of getting journalists out on the streams and lakes nearby.

 

The deeper stories are pools

with environmental insight

lurking down below, like

wary brown trout.

 

But the deeper stories are pools with environmental insight lurking down below, like wary brown trout.

Don’t forget that before there was environmental journalism, there was “outdoor writing.”

 

Why fish matter

Fish are ancient, and an ancient part of the human diet. Fishing, likewise, is an ancestral skill and interest. Grandfathers today take their grandkids fishing because it’s Sunday and they find a primal bond. 

Fishing is a profound way to discover nature and our part in it. It’s also an industry that feeds millions. It is the foundation of the recreation and tourism industries, which economically support many regions in the United States.

 

Fish play key roles

in many ecosystems.

Yet many species are

overfished or near extinction.

 

Fish and their extended family play key roles in many ecosystems. Yet many species are overfished or near extinction. At the same time, introduced fish (and other species) have profoundly altered freshwater and marine ecosystems.

It’s not just about salmon — although Pacific Chinook salmon in California are in trouble for the third year running.

It’s equally about obsessive smallmouth bass tournament champions standing up in their boats and bragging.

And it’s about caddisflies and sculpins and hellbenders and kingfishers and bald eagles (which are fishers, too).

 

Story ideas

• Visit a fish hatchery near you. What’s it hatching? Where are they stocked? Are these native fish? Do they survive over winter? What is their impact on the ecosystem?
• Talk to nearby tribal nations about their treaty (or nontreaty) fishing rights. Are they ignored? Limited? Infringed? What methods do they use to fish?
• Are the fishers using local streams in conflict with other users of the stream, over irrigation or hydropower?
• Are there conflicts in your region between commercial and recreational fishers? Over what species? Over the method or amount of harvest?
• How does fish farming (aquaculture) interact with sport and commercial fishing in your area (if it does)?
• What effect is climate change having on your local fisheries? Are streams drying up? Is temperature change (warmer water) disturbing cold-water species like trout?
• What effect is water pollution having on your local fisheries? How does your state water quality agency rate your local streams?
• Can people eat the fish they catch? Has the state issued any fish advisories about possible health threats from eating fish? How does this affect populations that subsist on fish?
• Are any dams being removed from your local waterways? How will that affect the fish?

 

Reporting resources

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: It manages recreational fisheries in federal waters, including hatcheries. See this hatcheries list. USFWS also manages federal wildlife refuges, many of which allow fishing.
• National Marine Fisheries Service: Known as NOAA Fisheries to its friends, it helps manage commercial fisheries.
• State fishing agencies: The link includes a pretty good list of state fishery agencies and other organizations focused on fishing. There are even more state fish hatcheries than federal ones. The best way to find them is through state agencies.
• Salmon Unlimited: A nonprofit mostly focused on conservation of (and fishing for) salmon of all kinds. It has state and local chapters.
• Trout Unlimited: A nonprofit mostly focused on the conservation of (and fishing for) trout of all kinds. It has a huge number of regional and local chapters.

[Editor’s Note: For more on the topic, see Tipsheets on seasonal fishing stories, the use of lead tackle, fishing advisories, the expansion of fishing at national refuges, endangered rivers and ice fishing. Also, see Toolboxes on trout streams and climate change and consumption advisories, and a Backgrounder on ocean overfishing. Plus, track EJToday headlines and other info on fish and fisheries.]

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

---

* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 22. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.