Images

Technicians deployed Detroit Lake's new water-quality monitoring station in April, 2024.

Cover image for fish screen video filmed at the Columbia River Research Laboratory.

WFRC scientist Lisa Wetzel uses a fluorescing stereoscope to look for microplastics in samples of Smallmouth Bass tissue provided by the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho.

Juvenile Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) behavior is assessed following exposure to 6PPD-quinone, a derivative of the compound 6PPD which is used in tires to prevent wear.

Dr. Gael Kurath, Joanne Salzer and Bill Batts joining Spokane fish health scientist Rebecca Cook and Spokane Tribal intern Justine Flett to conduct virus exposures in the WFRC Seattle weblab.

Joanne Salzer and Spokane Tribal intern, Justine Flett, conducting virus exposures in the WFRC Seattle wetlab. Our scientists are collaborating with the fisheries staff from the Spokane Tribe and Coeur d'Alene Tribe in a study to determine how susceptible Redband trout are to IHN virus (infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus).

WFRC partners with researchers investigating the causes of Sea Star Wasting Disease and the impacts of viral infection on fish swimming performance. Left - right: Dr. David Paez, Dr.

Photo (left to right): Dr. David Paez, Joanne Salzer, Jossline Aranda-Jackson (SEALASKA intern), and Dr. Gael Kurath sampling a patch of sea asparagus near the Western Fisheries Research Center’s Marrowstone Marine Field Station (MMFS).

Two groups of sea lions can be seen some distance away from the shore in deeper water. Sea lions are herring predators, feeding on herring while they spawn. Therefore, the presence of sea lions can be indicative of the presence of herring. However, herring schools are absent in this image.

Northern lights above Hawkins Island, Alaska. Large purse seine net is deployed from the stern of the research vessel R/V Solstice (owned and operated by Alaska Department of Fish and Game) during a joint collection effort with the USGS to sample fish for an annual disease survey in the sound.

Ashley MacKenzie, U.S. Geological Survey, watches as Heather Scannell, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) and Jenni Morella, ADF&G pull the purse seine onto the deck of the research vessel R/V Solstice after setting on a school of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound Alaska.

Group photo of USGS staff and partners who participated in the Fish Passage Tour sponsored by the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center.  Partners: NOAA Fisheries, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Department of Water Resources, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S.

Toby Kock (right, in plaid shirt) listens to a question during the Fish Passage Tour while standing on the North Shore Collector in the forebay of Cowlitz Falls Dam. The group discussed various ways that migrating juvenile salmon approach and pass the dam.

Participants of the Fish Passage Tour view the North Shore Collector separator at Cowlitz Falls Dam, WA. Fish are collected here to allow staff to count, determine species, and sample fish as they migrate downstream.

View of the forebay of the North Fork Dam of the Clackamas River Dam Complex, OR. An orange buoy system is seen on the right side of the image showing an exclusion net to prevent fish from getting behind the collector.

Purse seine net filled with Pacific herring in Prince William Sound Alaska. The seine net is deployed off the research vessel R/V Solstice (owned and operated by Alaska Department of Fish and Game) during a joint collection effort with the USGS to sample fish for an annual disease survey in the sound. Collection of herring is rare during the daytime.

U.S. Geological Survey, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game researchers perform disease sampling on herring collected from a purse seine in Prince William Sound Alaska. Sampling includes length, weight, sex, age, blood for VHSV antibodies and VEN slides, gills/kidney/spleen for VHSV, and hearts for Ichthyophonus.

Large purse seine net being loaded onto the research vessel R/V Solstice (Cordova Alaska). This net is used to collect Pacific herring throughout Prince William Sound. The herring disease surveys are the beginning of the field season for Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Cordova AK.

Using an ultra-light plane, researchers are looking at the landscapes where herring spawn in Prince William Sound Alaska.

Using an ultra-light plane, researchers are looking at the landscapes where herring spawn in Prince William Sound Alaska.

Using an ultra-light plane, researchers are looking at the landscapes where herring spawn in Prince William Sound Alaska.