I’ve got a new story over at bioGraphic:

One day during the winter of 2021, a group of fishermen cut a hole in the ice on the frozen Minnesota River. Then, using sonar to help them see under the surface, they speared a shortnose gar and laid it on the ice.

Then they speared another gar. And another.

By the time they were done, they had speared 82 of the ancient, needle-toothed fish. They laid the long, missile-shaped carcasses in neat rows on the ice, and recorded a video of themselves and their trophies, thinking they’d captured a fun and harmless day getting rid of the river’s undesirable “trash fish.”

Yet instead of racking up “likes,” the video triggered a wave of outrage that helped fuel a nascent movement to protect gar and other maligned and neglected native fish—commonly known as “rough fish,” either because they’re difficult to clean, or because of other misinformed or arbitrary rationale.

“I don’t know what it was about 80 gar that got people’s attention,” says native fish advocate Tyler Winter. “I’ve seen social media posts where people are boasting about putting 500 buffalo”—another fish native to the region—”on a manure pile. But I’m glad it worked.”

Read the rest here.