Abstract

Do you have a favorite place? One that makes you feel safe and has everything you need to survive? Now imagine you are in your favorite place and a skunk wanders in. You run away because you don’t want to end up stinky.

This same thing happens to young (juvenile) fish when their favorite places get polluted or are not protected. Fish might even get caught by fishermen. A lot of fish populations are in danger because: 

• too many individuals are caught 
• there aren’t enough safe places for juveniles to hide. 

If we protect their favorite places, we might be able to keep fish populations from decreasing. 

We tracked European bass (an important fish in Europe) for a year to figure out where their favorite places were. We found that most European bass stayed close to the coastal sites we caught them from. Our goal is to identify more of these coastal sites. That way, humans can protect them, and fish populations can thrive.