MEDIA ADVISORY -- La Jolla High School Students to Release White Seabass into Mission Bay to Help Restore Depleted Fish Stocks

Reporters and editors: Looks like a big fish story with students from La
Jolla High. Your coverage is invited. Contact is Mike Shane or Mark
Drawbridge from Hubbs Sea World Institute, 619-226-3870.

Jack Brandais | Communications Department | San Diego Unified School
District | (619) 725-5570 (Desk) | (619) 607-0477 (Cell)



Attention: Assignment Editors
January 23, 2013
MEDIA ADVISORY

LA JOLLA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO RELEASE WHITE SEABASS INTO
MISSION BAY TO HELP RESTORE DEPLETED FISH STOCKS

WHAT: Students participating in Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute¹s
(HSWRI) Seabass in the Classroom (SITC) program will release their second
batch of cultured white seabass into Mission Bay.

WHEN: Thursday, January 24, 2013, 2:30pm @ Mission Bay.

WHERE: Mission Bay, Crown Point Park near Kendall Frost Reserve.

DETAILS: HSWRI scientists and students from La Jolla High School will
release cultured white seabass (WSB) into Mission Bay. The students have
been raising the juvenile WSB in their classroom since September. Through
this classroom activity, students are learning about the sustainability of
a natural resource through the practices of environmental science, and the
importance of water quality as a factor in animal, plant, and human
health.

This HSWRI program is part of the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery
Program (OREHP). OREHP is the result of an extraordinary partnership
between California State resources agencies, public utility companies,
fishing groups and the scientific community to restore the depleted
populations of recreationally and commercially important marine fish.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, annual party boat catches of white seabass in
California dropped from over 55,000 to less than 3,500. Partly as a result
of that, in 1983, the OREHP Advisory Panel identified white seabass
(Atractoscion nobilis) as the most appropriate species to initiate this
long-term research program. Since program funding is generated by fishing
license fees north of the Mexican border and south of Point Arguello,
HSWRI¹s fish culture, tag and release, and assessment activities are
focused in Southern California.

Due to generous funding from SDG&E and other public utility companies,
OREHP releases thousands of fish each year and in 2013, will release its
two millionth white seabass. Adult fish have been recovered up to 13 years
after release and more than 350 miles from their release site.

MEDIA INTEREST: Interview opportunities with HSWRI scientists and high
school students regarding not only the educational significance of this
classroom-based, hands-on, science activity but also the critical role
of aquaculture in providing a safe and sustainable seafood supply to the
American people and its importance in contributing to a healthy economy.

CONTACTS: Mike Shane/Mark Drawbridge, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
(HSWRI) 619-226-3870.
Day of event: Eileen Sigler, HSWRI 619-672-6062; Allison Zaragoza, SDGE
619-820-1517

Dave James, La Jolla High School 858-454-3081

--HSWRI--


You are a subscriber to the news release mailing list for the San Diego Unified School District. To unsubscribe, send a message to "media@lists-sandi-net" with the word "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. For an archive of these releases, go to http://sdusd-news.blogspot.com/