Federal officials today plan to launch a second fish rescue on Prospect Island, the Delta tract where thousands of fish died last year after a levee repair project.
They're going back because many fish were left behind the first time, and the island has begun to dry out in the August heat.
Prospect Island, at the southern end of the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel, is a tract of farmland owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Floods breached the island's levees in two places in 2006, and thousands of fish swam onto the flooded tract.
In 2007, the bureau hired a contractor to fix the levees, then pump out the island. But no plans were made for the fish. Thousands died.
Outraged fishermen pressured the bureau to rescue the survivors in November, and an estimated 10,000 fish were saved – mostly carp, catfish and bluegill.
But many more have apparently survived ever since in the shallow water left behind. That water has gotten ever shallower, and the bureau wants to save the rest before it has a bigger crisis on its hands in the form of thousands of rotting carcasses.
"We've been keeping an eye on it, and we could see from one week to the next the evaporation was pretty serious," said Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Louis Moore. "As the water diminishes, they're going to get less oxygen and just create more problems."
Federal officials will work with the California Department of Fish and Game to rescue the fish, Moore said.
Starting at 10 a.m. today, the team will use equipment to stun the fish, then load them into containers that will be floated to the levee, then carried over the levee and dumped back into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The agencies are looking for additional volunteers from the public, and they've called on Bob McDaris to help.
McDaris, owner of Cliff's Marina in Freeport, led the campaign to save the Prospect Island fish last time, rounding up equipment and dozens of volunteers for that effort.
In the midst of a vacation in New Mexico, he has gotten to work lining up volunteers for an encore performance.
He said he was pleased to be asked to help this time.
"I think it's great," McDaris said. "Everybody's got the right attitude."
Anyone interested in helping can call Moore at (916) 335-9755, or call Cliff's Marina at (916) 665-1611.
"We really want to do a good job and get as many fish out of there as we can," Moore said.
Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.
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