STARKVILLE — As global warming and climate change debates continue worldwide, researchers at Mississippi State University (MSU) are examining how weather influences duck migration patterns.
“In the past few years, we have observed that ducks are not migrating to southern latitudes in abundance, or are doing so generally only in the presence of severe weather,” [...] [...]
MISSISSIPPI DELTA — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has selected 41 watersheds in 12 states, known as Focus Areas, to participate in a new initiative to improve water quality and the overall health of the Mississippi River Basin. The selected watersheds cover over 42 million acres, or more than 5 percent of the Basin’s [...] [...]
HANCOCK COUNTY — Stennis Space Center-based WorldWinds Inc. and the NASA Short–term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) at the Marshall Space Flight Center have enhanced a product to track favorable conditions of certain pelagic fish species.
The daily Chlorophyll–a composite product uses data from NASA’s MODIS satellite and has been applied in the XMWX commercial [...] [...]
MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST — NOAA Fisheries Service has implemented a rule to reduce the sea turtle bycatch in the bottom longline component of the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery.
The rule prohibits bottom longlining for Gulf reef fish east of 85o30’W longitude (near Cape San Blas, Fla.) shoreward of the line approximating the 35-fathom depth [...] [...]
MISSISSIPPI SOUND — The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources’ (DMR) Derelict Vessel Removal Program and Artificial Reef Bureau have combined efforts with the Mississippi Gulf Fishing Banks (MGFB) to enhance fish habitat in the Mississippi Gulf. The DMR and MGFB recently deployed the Tiger Shark shrimp boat to the southeast of Fish Haven 13, about [...] [...]
ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Breeding waterfowl populations have increased or remained similar to last year for the 10 duck species surveyed; and overall, duck populations rose 13 percent from last year to 42 million birds. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service conduct annual waterfowl population surveys on the breeding grounds to [...] [...]
ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to conduct five-year status reviews of 15 endangered and eight threatened species occurring in one or more of 10 states.
These five-year reviews are conducted to ensure that listing classifications under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) are accurate.
This notice covers the following species federally listed as [...] [...]
