HELPING THE MUSEUM SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

Teachers or others interested in making their own branch of the Museums of Endangered Ocean Life, get in touch. We can help you find ways of helping kids create their own works of art and science that get posted in the museum, worldwide!

More importantly, we can help kids find ways to truly make a difference, no matter where they live. There is always something to do to make the world a better place, a healthier place, and more fun too. Fred can help put smiles on faces - faces of happier kids with new purpose in a new year!

Become a FRIEND OF FRED and help spread the word about those who help endangered species. Invite Fred to your school. He will bring lots of good information and connect you with others.

More information at whalemail@waypoint.com

Facing Future Explained

EXTINCT means gone, pau, from all places. Example, the O'o is extinct from its former forests in Hawaii. They no longer exist.

EXTIRPATEDmeans gone from a given area. Example, Grizzly Bears were extirpated from California about 1925. They still exist.

ENDANGERED means that a species is nearing extinction unless actions are taken immediately to save them. It is usually a legal term associated with the Endangered Species Act, but because this is a political tool, it does not always reflect accurate science. Example: the Hawaiian Monk Seal is endangered and will likely become extinct.

THREATENED means that a species is likely to near extinction and become endangered unless actions are taken to protect it and its habitat. Example: Bald Eagles were threatened but have been removed from this list due to habitat protection and reductions in use of chemicals such as DDT.

SPECIES OF CONCERN: Many states have lists that include species not covered under federal protection as endangered or threatened. These may be species extirpated from the state, but present in greater numbers in neighboring areas.

Unfortunately, no reasonable approach has been worked out to list endangered habitats, the primary living space for all life forms. To many scientists, the entire Arctic is now endangered. Imagine, as Richard Ellis says, "If Australia were suddenly to disappear, don't you think we would wake up and do something?" Well, we are losing an area about the size and importance of Australia as the Arctic disappears, transforming due to climate change and taking with it the Polar Bears, Bowhead Whales, and Peoples dependent on that vast ecosystem.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

CUTTHROAT TROUT



Few fish on the planet have attracted as much attention as trout.
Cutthroat are natives of the west
and have diversified, geographically
into four major groups of 14 subspecies
according to Rober Behnke.

The photo above by

Pat Clayton
of Fisheyeguyphotography

is a Yellowstone Cutthroat, a trout in trouble in part because
of introduced Lake Trout, fish dumped carelessly into Yellowstone Lake.
I caught my first cutthroat when I was five or six and often
help lead guide trips to explore their habitat with my friend,
Doug Rose.
Doug and I love nothing more than to fly fish in small beaver ponds
where Coastal Cutthroats sometimes live out their entire lives.
Other Coastal Cutthroat swim in the Salish Sea and open Pacific
where they are prey of eagles, harbor seals, and maybe an occasional orca.

You can best view Yellowstone Cutthroat up close (inches from their face)
at Lehardy Rapids, Yellowstone National Park.
Or, to hold one briefly, book a guided tour with the best Montana and
Wyoming Guides, Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, Montana.

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