4 days ago
Orange Coast College students release 200 sea bass into the ocean
Marine biologist Nancy Caruso notes how for less than $70, a person can get a fishing license to take sea life from the ocean. Putting fish into it, however, is much less common.
'There's only a few people who put things in,' Caruso said. 'That's what makes this program so special.'
Caruso is the founder Get Inspired, a nonprofit working with Orange County schools of all ages to nurture white sea bass, green abalone, Pismo clams and other species before releasing them into the ocean.
On Friday afternoon, Orange Coast College students in the aquarium science program released 200 tagged white sea bass into the ocean at Bayside Beach, near the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol Division office.
The students spent the last few months caring for the fish on-campus, said Mary Blasius, instructor and aquarium coordinator for the Orange Coast College Dennis Kelly Aquarium.
Get Inspired has teamed up with OCC for about a decade, Blasius said, with the junior college raising and releasing about 3,000 fish in that time.
The eggs and hatchlings are provided by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.
'The fish have a very mild taste and make great fish tacos,' Blasius said. 'They're a popular recreational fish. There's nothing wrong with fishing. We want people to be able to enjoy it, we just need to make sure we're doing it in a sustainable way.
'This is great, because the students get hands-on skills that they can use in the industry. Many of our students get full-time positions at aquariums, at hatcheries, with the state of California.'
The white sea bass population was decreasing during the mid- to late-20th century due to over-fishing and habitat degradation, but has rebounded.
Hayley Heiner, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute education and outreach manager, said nearly three million fish have been raised and released back into the ocean since the 1980s. Analysis has shown that 30% of adults sampled from the wild originated from the hatchery program, while 46% of smaller fish less than 2 years old caught in the wild were also hatchery fish.
Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley and Newport Beach City Councilmember Robyn Grant, who had an understandable interest in the project as an environmental attorney, also attended the release.
'I'm so proud of all of the students and the young people, but also everyone else that wanted to come and participate in really protecting, restoring, revering our environment,' Grant said.
She added that the bay and ocean was not only Newport Beach's most prized asset, but the world's as well.
Get Inspired first focused on restoring all of the kelp forests in Orange County, and has now turned its attention to other species that needed help, Caruso said.
