“Fish on the Run”: Using Freeware and Outreach Tools to Tell Better Fish Stories

While most people are at least marginally aware of the plight of salmon migrations blocked by dams, the story of less iconic fishes facing less impressive structures (e.g., suckers blocked by road culverts) is rarely told. Road culverts represent a significant threat to migratory fishes in the Great Lakes Basin, and recent conservation efforts based at the Center for Limnology have focused on prioritizing barrier removals and creating a visual support tool to inform those decisions. Tasked with publicizing the project, our outreach challenge was to promote general awareness of these lesser-known fish migrations and inform a diverse audience (from fisheries managers to children) about the barriers they face. By using freeware to create content like animated videos, blog posts, and a website, as well as taking advantage of existing collaborations and participating in World Fish Migration Day, we have attempted to tell the stories of these incredible fishes in a new, more interesting way.