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Hundreds of endangered fish rescued from Palisades fire burn area – Jobsmaa.com

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The rescue team donned waders and marched through a dark Malibu lagoon burned by the Palisades Fire. Their mission: Save the lives of northern tidewater gobies, a tiny endangered fish.

Devastating wildfires have stripped the slopes of the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, and now the rain is sending massive amounts of sediment into the Topanga Lagoon, a death trap for fish.

A team that includes biologists from several government agencies mobilized last weekend to try to catch the swamp-colored, semi-translucent gobies before a storm hits. But success is not guaranteed.

A man sets a net with federally endangered tidewater gobies that live in Topanga Lagoon in Malibu.

Rosie Dagit, principal conservation biologist for the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District, sets a net with federally endangered tidewater gobies that inhabit Topanga Lagoon in Malibu.

This is the seasonal population low point for species that hibernate over the winter under rocks and vegetation. A sandbar that cut off Topanga Lagoon from the Pacific Ocean was washed away by high tides and the influx of water used to put out fires — an unnatural breach that would wash them out in the surf.

But as soon as the scientists — trained, trained and of the civilian variety — flashed the big nets that act as sieves in the brackish water, the cries of joy began to ring out. They hit the Kobe jackpot.

“The Gobi gods are working with us,” said Rosie Dagit, principal conservation biologist and rescue mission leader for the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District.

Then, “Oh, look at that!” she exclaimed. Another Gobi was recovered.

Within hours, they transferred 760 healthy gobies to plastic coolers, surpassing their target of about 400.

Trey Banfield helps rescue federally endangered tidewater gobies that live in Topanga Lagoon.

Dray Banfield works with AmeriCorps with the California Conservation Corps' Watershed Stewardship Program to help rescue resident gobies in Topanga Lagoon.

While the gobies were safely out, another fish of great concern was in danger. Last known Steelhead Trout Populations It occupies the same body of water in the coastal range and is to be recovered on Thursday in a very challenging operation.

Help may come in time First rain in months Los Angeles County is expected this weekend. Although stocked fish are an immediate success, burned water bodies can take years to recover. And offline habitat translates to fewer places to move fish to in an emergency.

Tidewater gobies are tough fish that fall into hard luck. Fish can withstand extreme temperature and salinity changes, and can absorb air from the water surface if conditions force them to.

But theirs The numbers plummeted Amid habitat destruction from agricultural and coastal development, it prompts their listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Fish are threatened by drought and invasive predators.

Steelhead trout — once found in most streams in the Santa Monica Mountains — have similarly lost habitat, degraded and fragmented. Silvery steelhead migrate offshore and return to natal freshwater streams, which can be blocked by dams and concrete canals. A unique Population of Southern California Listed as endangered at the state and federal level.

Topanga CreekThe biodiversity hotspot that drains into Santa Monica Bay is the last refuge for Coast Range steelhead and supports a population of tens of thousands of marine gobies.

Conservationists are working together to save the federally endangered tidewater gobies that live in Topanga Lagoon in Malibu.

Team members used nets that acted as sieves to catch gobies. It is said that 760 gopis were saved during the rescue operation.

“It's unusually protected by mostly native plants, which leads to native fauna,” said Alyssa Morgan, project manager for the resource conservation district. “Especially when those hot spots are fewer and fewer, it's really important to protect them.”

The Conservation District provides programs and services focused on watershed management, restoration, research and education throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas. It is not a regulatory agency but can advise such organizations.

Malibu CreekA nearby body of water burned in December. Dagit said this is the first time in his 38 years of monitoring efforts that the Malibu and Topanga watersheds have been removed at the same time. Normally, they would “tag team” the creeks, but now no fish can be moved to Malibu.

“We cannot continue these fire drills,” Dagit said during the recent Gobi rescue, calling for a more strategic approach.

Numerous partners participated in the rescue, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and California State Parks.

Relocating to other areas of the fire is a challenge. Massive Woolsey Fire Kyle Evans, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said creeks that burned in the Santa Monica Mountains in 2018 have not recovered enough to receive fish.

“Over the past 100 years, anthropogenic impacts from land and water use and frequent wildfires have significantly reduced the amount of suitable habitat, stressing an already strained system,” Evans wrote. An email.

Evans said the state agency has carried out fish transfers and rescues since its inception more than a century ago. “In the past, it was stocking, raising fish or planning around water diversions or dams, but in modern times recovery and relocations are used as management tools,” he said.

Recovering steelhead trout can be very complicated, Dagit said. Unlike smaller gobies, steelhead can grow up to 2 feet. They should be converted to hatchery trucks equipped with larger tanks.

Access to the creek will be difficult and the road will have to be closed to traffic, Dagit said.

“Look how much these hillsides are burning,” he said, referring to the charred slopes above the Pacific Coast Highway. “It's not as bad as it is in the creek.”

As the trout's fate hangs in the balance, the rescued gobies are safely housed in Aquariums of the Pacific in Long Beach and Santa Monica's Heal the Bay Aquarium.

Brendan Spies, a Cal State Channel Islands lecturer specializing in kobi, said how long the fish stay in captivity depends on when the rainy season arrives. A shower or two will flush out the debris in the water and return it to safety.

Gobies only live about a year, so rescuers have been told it's not a good idea to collect large specimens – they don't have a long lifespan.

The rescue soon came together; Time was of the essence.

Spies said the Gobi people lost during the Woolsey Fire and the Demon Thomas Fire In 2017 before that.

“We couldn't get to them in time,” said Spies, who joined the latest rescue effort.

Federally endangered tidewater gobies swim in an orange bucket.

Tidewater gobies are hardy fish that can withstand extreme differences in salinity and temperature. However, habitat loss has reduced their numbers. In 1994, they were added to the federal endangered species list. Above, they swim in an orange bucket.

One of those worst people lived Carpinteria CreekIt drains into the Santa Barbara Channel, he said. There, telephone poles and tons of vegetation piled up in the pond for months.

“It suffocated them,” he said, adding that the pool was not breached.

Before the newly freed gobies were herded into their new digs, their rescuers shouted at them. Dozens of fish swirled to and fro in the blue cooler, blissfully unaware of the danger they might have escaped in the nick of time.

“They're very beautiful,” said Luke Benson, a field technical biologist for the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District.

“The little eyes on top really get me,” said Jelly Kahler, the district's community engagement manager.

Amidst the excitement, the toll of tragedy — human, environmental and otherwise — caused by the still-burning fire boils over.

Team members from the district are no stranger to mobilizing in a pinch, but this effort is different, given the personal effects many have experienced from the fires. The Palisades Fire, which was 70% contained as of Wednesday, has destroyed thousands of homes in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

“We've had fires in the Palisades and Topanga, our trees and fields burned in the past, but an entire town burned in our community and so close to us,” Kahler said as he drove to the rescue, “It's a completely different feeling from other tragedies.”

Dagitt, who lives in the Topanga Canyon community of Fernwood, was evacuated during the emergency.

On Friday afternoon, after a successful Kobe rescue, she wrote in an email that she found out she was going home the next day.

“Surely a good day!” She wrote.

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