Thousands of White Sea Bass Released Into San Diego Bay

Thursday, 23 July 2009
Contact: Dale Frost

More than 13,000 white sea bass were released from pens into San Diego Bay on July 21, contributing to the recovery of a native species. Volunteers from the San Diego Oceans Foundation used long-handled nets to scoop the foot-long fish out of the pens and gently placed them into the bay.

Under its Financial Assistance Program, this year the Port of San Diego has contributed $10,000 for restocking the pens adjacent to the Grape Street Pier with two-inch long fish that grow into juvenile white sea bass. When white sea bass are about one-foot long, the chances of surviving in the wild are greatly increased.

“Partnering with the Port on this project is incredibly valuable,” said Wendy Pacosky, Board President of the San Diego Oceans Foundation. “It gives us the opportunity to release over 40,000 fish annually from San Diego Bay.”

When the restocking program began in 2000, the Port provided a location for the two growing pens, funded their construction and has financially supported the program annually.

“Supporting projects like this that enhance San Diego Bay’s natural resources is a critical component of our role as an environmental steward,” said Kelly Makley, associate environmental specialist in the Port’s Environmental Services Department. “This restocking program helps maintain a healthy abundance of fish and a sustainable population of white sea bass,” she said.

The San Diego Oceans Foundation partners with Hubbs Sea World Research Institute to operate the restocking program. Hubbs breeds the fish, stocks the pens and provides protein-rich pellets for the fish to eat. The small fish remain in the pens for three to four months, eating and growing.

Josh Antus of Rancho Penasquitos is one of the many San Diego Oceans Foundation volunteers who came weekly to feed the fish. “I’ve always had a passion for marine life and preservation of species,” he said while scooping the white sea bass into the bay.

After two hours of scooping by 20 volunteers, all of the white sea bass were successfully released into the bay.

The growing pens are part of a two-decade-old state program to boost the species’ overall population in the wild. White sea bass began to decline in the 1950s because of overfishing and the destruction of habitat in lagoons and shallow bays that are critical to the survival of small fish. Rising catch rates by fishermen indicate the species is rebounding.

The San Diego Oceans Foundation has been raising and releasing this once critically-low population local fish since 1997.

The restocking operation is among several Port environmental projects that preserve and enhance the bay.  Projects include a $125,000 cleanup of the seafloor in the South Bay at a former anchorage area, restoring the D Street Fill area to encourage the return and nesting of the endangered Western Snowy Plover, and continuing conservation efforts to benefit the endangered Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtle that lives in South San Diego Bay.