Conservation News
Salmon Project
by Steve Rudzinski
Salmon Project
by Steve Rudzinski
I volunteered to help set up the sea pens at the Santa Cruz harbor in late April and and on May 25, the fish and game tanker arrived and delivered via gravity 73,600 four inch size Chinook salmon. It only took about three or five minutes for the truck to empty and with our seawater pump we flushed the 6 inch flex hose to get the stragglers refusing to leave their favorite truck. All looked vital and only a few stunned fish that revived after awhile.
These little torpedoes came out jumping all over the surface and wanted to jump right over the netting on the side of the pen.
This is a big job that involves a crane truck and flatbed diesel truck to load the docks (4) stored off Buena Vista Rd during the off season. Thanks for slings and serious rigging and thanks to the genius of Al Smith who directs the whole symphony of this process with many volunteer types who want to make a difference somehow.
The parts are delivered to the yacht club side of the harbor and lowered into the water near the kayak ramp and lashed together and the Harbor Patrol tows it into the current location next to the launch ramp. It took a full day of this organization and delicate timing and a sturdy group of crew with better than average homeowner carpentry skills with a truck and personal hand tools available for the problems that always arise.
The intention of Al Smith was to recruit "new blood" to be part of the future of this project and as we all looked around, there were a few in their fifties, most in the sixties and seventies and only one person under fifty years old.
The excitement of watching the thousands of little Chinook hit the Pacific ocean was a thrill beyond words. The haunting thought of Gulf of Mexico disaster is on my mind every day. I don't know if we can do more good than the oil industry can destroy.
In conclusion, there will be two deliveries of salmon from the Feather River hatchery total, The driver said that he "wished they could deliver more fish", I am not sure what that means, if the decision is political or scientific. The pen comes down after the last fish is released, as learned, the best time is at dusk when the light changes and the chance to be eaten decreases somewhat and also the fish seem to want to just take off immediately. Other times, says Al Smith, "the fish just hang out and don't seem to want to leave the pen area".
This a noble adventure for the person who has some free time. Santa Cruz harbor is the only release location this year and we hope the sea lions do not take over the docks as they did in Monterey and Moss Landing. We watched all the anglers launch to catch the fish that may have been released from our pen a few years ago as the fish are mature and should be returning to the harbor to look for the stainless steel truck that brought it there.
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