Monterey County Animals Digest

An invasion of anchovies has prompted Monterey’s harbor master to activate more than a dozen air pumps to add oxygen to the water, to prevent their mass suffocation.Hundreds of sea lions and pelicans are crowding the city’s waterfront, drawn by the schools of migrating Northern anchovies, city officials said in a weekly email on Friday.

The invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitos have been detected in more areas of Santa Clara County, prompting officials to hold meetings to discuss their response to the threat posed by the species. 

Sixty years ago, I was a reporter for the Klamath Falls (Oregon) Herald and News and with my family lived in a small house on the Link River, which flows out of Upper Klamath Lake, draining a large portion of the Cascade mountain range.

Low counts of spawning salmon could mean another year without fishing. Experts say the outlook still has time to turn around.

A strain of bird flu that imperiled California poultry and cattle has jumped to people. In humans, the symptoms are mild and the virus has not been transmitted among people.

Growers support a federal and state proposal for operating California’s massive systems that send river water south. But it could harm more salmon and other endangered fish.

The Monterey Herald takes a look at the history and management of the Monterey Bay Aquarium as it approaches its 40th anniversary.

H5N1 bird flu has been reported in three California dairy herds.

Residents of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties are warned against local recreational shellfish harvesting due to toxic local algae blooms and red tides.

Young Great White sharks are convening in the warm waters of Soquel Cove off Seacliff State Beach between Capitola and Rio Del Mar.

Rosa the sea otter, resident at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, passed away at the age of 24.

Researchers from the California Killer Whale Project and Vancouver-based Ocean Wise will be utilizing an innovative technique to study the local orca population.

Several bills making their way through the California Legislature seek to address overcrowded animal shelters and streamline how animals receive care.

California has released 500,000 salmon into the Klamath River. As dams are removed, the fish will be some of the first to return to a free-flowing river.

Obstacles are mounting for officials who are attempting to rescue a young gray whale that was discovered entangled in a gillnet off Laguna Beach was recently sighted off the coast of Thornton State Beach in Daly City .

Captains of fishing boats on the California coast are bracing for salmon fishing to be severely restricted — or possibly canceled for a second year.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials ordered an April 8 close to the commercial season to citing the risk of fishing gear entanglement by migrating humpback whales.

The goal is to eliminate habitat competition between "invasive" owls and native owls.

Monterey Bay residents Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom, renowned for their work documenting nature, have opened a new exhibit titled "Bay of Life: From Wind To Whales" at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) .

There was a time not so long ago when trained observers were overwhelmed by the number of whales migrating through Monterey Bay.

The Wildlife Conservation Board voted to award $10.3 million to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County to preserve the 27,000-acre Camatta Ranch in Santa Margarita.

Foragers at the beaches in Half Moon Bay might be damaging the area’s reef.

While temperatures aren’t warm enough for mosquitoes to run rampant, now’s the time to prevent breeding grounds.

Pigs running down the streets of Salinas? “It’s not too far-fetched,” says one trapper. After incessant rain, Monterey County is experiencing a big pig problem.

Ten conservation groups filed an intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its failure to list western wolves under the Endangered Species Act.

An extinct species of walrus was unearthed in Santa Cruz County, evoking a time when California was teeming with odd creatures that feel closer to fantasy than reality, researchers said.

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America bag deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

Chinook and other salmon runs are collapsing. Conservation groups call it too little, too late. Plan includes dam removals and restoring river flows.

Monarch butterflies have a long way to go before reaching stable population numbers.

Those pandemic puppies are growing up to be a public health concern.

For months, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has been waging war on the oriental fruit fly, a voracious pest that can attack hundreds of types of fruits and vegetables.

New rules took effect Jan. 1 permanently protecting the most fragile deep sea corals off Southern California. Simultaneously, more than 4,500 square miles of ocean waters are now reopened to fishing after more than 20 years of closures.