Looking to The Skies to Save U.S. Fish

CFL post doc, Brenda Pracheil, shows off one of the fish that prompted her study in Fisheries magazine – Credit:Dan Kolterman, Florida Fish & Wildlife COnservation Commission

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher says states should be looking to the skies in order to save fish.
Brenda Pracheil, a postdoctoral fellow at the UW-Madison Center for Limnology, thinks it’s time for fish to garner the same protection afforded migratory birds. Migratory birds are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, and state collaboration and federal oversight span borders and encompass large conservation efforts in migratory flyways, especially for waterfowl.
But many freshwater fish migrate, too, says Pracheil. In fact, she notes, some work their way through thousands of miles of water and cross half a dozen state lines in the process. And that’s why, she argues, fish need “swimways.”
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