The editor of Angling Trade magazine, Kirk Deeter, picks the Orvis Shoe-In—a flip-flop big enough to fit over your wading boots—as one of the coolest new products on display at the recent International Fly Tackle Dealer show in Denver. The Shoe-In is designed to let anglers wearing studded boots fish from a drift boat without scratching up the floor. It will also allow anglers to walk into stores and restaurants without making a mess.
Today is the second day of FDA hearings to decide if the government agency will approve the marketing of genetically modified Atlantic salmon at supermarkets across the country. A Massachusetts company has developed a salmon that grows twice as fast as its wild relatives. The question, of course, is whether or not this Frankenfish is safe to eat.
In wild-salmon news, scientists are still struggling to explain the extraordinary—and unexpected—run of sockeye salmon in Canada’s Fraser River this summer. Some 34 million fish made the journey up from the sea, in a river that has seen steady declines for two decades. Both fishermen and biologists are cautioning against irrational optimism, however, arguing that one year does not a trend make. This year’s run might be nothing more than a statistical anomaly, rather than a sign that that salmon stocks are recovering.
Things aren’t looking so good for steelhead in the Columbia Basin.