Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project

KING SALMON ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM--1999

BY BOB MONTGOMERY, DIRECTOR

As this article is being written, MBS&TP volunteers are within four days of releasing 60,000 king salmon into the Monterey Bay at the Monterey Harbor. An earlier batch of 120,000 beautiful little salmon have already been released, with practically no loss of fish in the process.

This sounds a lot easier than it actually is. There is a great deal of planning and preparation before the actual release of the fish can occur. First comes the cooperation of the California Department Of Fish & Game under Jerry Ayers. Mr. Ayers oversees the DFG Cooperative Fish Rearing Program and is their chief coordinator. He was on hand for both deliveries of fish to insure that we received healthy, viable fish. Also in use for the first time, was the new DFG delivery truck. All 60,000 salmon were delivered on the same truck in just one delivery. This is a very safe and effective method of transporting the young fish.

Before any of our fish arrive, the City of Monterey, Harbormaster Steve Scheiblauer and his assistant, Paul Dangreau, and the employees of the harbor division, must prepare the dock space and additional help to assemble the floating pens. Their donation of dock space and work crews is much appreciated.

I want to give special recognition to Howard Thielbar, our manager, and Gary Anderson. Both of these volunteers are responsible for repairing and assembling the pens, and for the overall operation of the Monterey Enhancement Project. I cannot list all of the other volunteers because there are so many of them. This is one of the rewarding aspects of the project. These people come from everywhere, sport and commercial fishermen, interested bystanders, folks from the Monterey Bay Veterans, to name a few. I am sure that I have forgotten some of you but rest assured, your work was appreciated by all of us at MBS&TP.

Each year is a learning process. Hopefully, we can expand the enhancement program to the Santa Cruz Harbors and Moss Landing Harbor. This will enable us to do a much better job in providing more king salmon to the Monterey Bay. Everybody wins!!

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