How mock beaver dams could help restore Wisconsin wetlands

Catch share programs—where fishermen are allotted a set quota of the catch—reduce the notoriously risky behavior fishermen are known for, like sailing in stormy weather, a new study finds.

By releasing fish into the Chicago River, the city of Chicago aims to help clean up its ecosystem, as the fish hopefully will eat the river's excess algae.

Warming water has led to the collapse of coral reef systems in the western Indian Ocean, essential to fisheries, protecting shorelines, and reducing beach erosion and sea-level rise. Marine scientists from Nature Seychelles, as part of an international project to protect and restore the reefs, are promoting varieties of coral that they have found to be resistant to the rise in temperature.

Invasive weeds are ruining the habitat of New York's wild bog turtles. In Hudson River Valley, domestic goats and cows are being used to save bog turtles by grazing on this foreign weed. So far, the plan seems to be working as the turtles have shown signs of not just returning but also laying eggs in the area.

New water management technology implemented along the Columbia has significantly helped the fish population - specifically salmon - return to healthy numbers and has restored much of the community and industry that revolves around the river, including for native peoples.

Dams make for complex and often controversial infrastructure. While hydropower generated from large dam projects is currently providing the bulk of the planet's renewable energy, dams can also cause major environmental and social damage by interrupting animal migrations, displacing indigenous communities, and collecting toxins. A number of solutions are being implemented, however, to address the various issues caused by dams, to help make them a more eco-friendly and viable source of clean energy.

Local fisheries have been struggling to keep up with major manufacturers. Sustainable fishing practices have been countering that by creating Niche markets.

Increasing salinization of water sources and droughts as a result of climate change have threatened traditional agricultural practices in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. But The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the Netherlands Development Agency are helping teach farmers to adapt by showing them how to work with the saltier waters, establishing organic shrimp farms instead of growing rice and preserving the valuable mangroves that protect their coastline from storms.

As arctic sea ice continues to melt at alarming rates due to climate change, new concerns about increased exposure of these virgin waters to the ravages of commercial fishing arise. Taking lessons from the population collapse of fish populations in the Bering Straight due to lack of regulation and data, international leaders from nations along the Arctic Circle are working together to protect these new territories and hopefully preserve capacities for the future.

"Ghost gear" are nylon nets and other waste left behind in our oceans by fishing boats - they cause massive environmental damage, releasing toxins in the water, ensnaring wildlife, and clogging up beaches. Now one organisation, the Healthy Seas Initiative, is working with fishermen and a sportswear company called ECONYL to retrieve abandoned nets from out of the ocean and convert the materials into clothing, carpets, and more.