Wow…it’s already been a year since the Prospect Island Fish Rescue. Though we rescued 1,800 striped bass that day, many thousands (the number may have been as high as 10,000+) of adult and juvenile stripers perished in the mud when the island was pumped dry — the effects of which we’ve been feeling in the rivers, Bay and Delta this summer and fall.
Here’s a look back at what happened that icy December day…
It was a cold, wet, muddy job, but 50 of us headed out to Prospect Island on Saturday morning to see if we could save any of the fish stranded there by the Bureau of Reclamation. Team Salvage was made up entirely of volunteers (lead by Bob McDaris and Jeff Nash, who coordinated everything) who gave their Saturday to saving fish. When the smoke cleared and the dust (mud) settled, we captured 1,466 live fish (1,462 striped bass, 2 big largemouth and 2 jumbo cats) and released them into Minor Slough. Though most of the fish were in sad shape from living in 6 inches of skanky, silt-choked water for two weeks, only a couple went belly up after being released back into the Delta.
Here’s my photo log from the day….
