'Talking fish' not heard by conservation policies, SFU study warns
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 10-Jul-2025 08:10 ET (10-Jul-2025 12:10 GMT/UTC)
More than a thousand fish species use sounds to exchange information, attract mates, and avoid predators through hums, grunts, clicks, and bubbles. Yet, the vital role of fish sounds—and the impact of noise pollution on the fishes that produce them—are left out of critical conservation policy, says study led by marine ecologists at Simon Fraser University.
The ocean is filled with the bustling sounds of daily marine life, including the sounds made by soniferous fish species. These sounds aren’t merely passive sounds—soniferous fishes produce sound themselves, like a whale ‘singing’ through vocalizations, says Kieran Cox, Liber Ero and NSERC fellow at SFU and co-founder of FishSounds.net.
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Researchers will study how ocean currents and river nutrients affect deep coral ecosystems on the West Florida Shelf – one of the Gulf’s largest and least-studied habitats. Funded by the Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence Program, the project aims to support sustainable fisheries and conservation of these vital, little-explored habitats, which are home to economically important marine life. The research will guide science-based strategies for protecting the gulf coast’s long-term ecological and economic health.
The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has released its highly anticipated 2025 update to the recommended minimum gene list for the reporting of secondary findings (SF) in clinical exome and genome sequencing: “ACMG SF v3.3 List for Reporting of Secondary Findings in Clinical Exome and Genome Sequencing: A Policy Statement of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics.”
Research in Contemporary Economic Policy indicates that well-intentioned renter protection policies may actually increase discrimination against certain minority races and ethnicities.