Fish Release Day

Steelhead Fish Release: By Cameron Cervone, 6th grader

On May 20, 2015, I had a magical experience. It was already cool to raise steelhead from eggs to fry in Mr. Garve’s classroom, but then I got to release them! I still feel sad at night, thinking about my fish. Early in the morning, we went to the Mark West Creek, a block or two away from our school. I paired up with Xander. We were thankfully supported by the Sonoma County Water Agency and many more. The supervisor, James Gore was there, too! When we got to the creek, we took some tests to see if the water was good for the fish. Luckily, it was. The temperature was pretty high, but not too high. The turbidity, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen were good levels, too. Finally, we got our fish. When me and Xander got our fish, I automatically knew he was awesome. He was strong, courageous, and brave. Me and Xander named him Deadpool, after the Marvel Comics™ character. Deadpool is an assassin, and he is very strong(I’m talking about the character, not the fish). We found a place to put him in, because he was in a cup. We had to let it sit in the water, so the heat transfer would work. We put rocks over the cup to protect him. Automatically, Deadpool tried to break out of the cup. After a few attempts, he decided to quit. Finally, the heat transfer was over. He released him at a different spot than where we put the cup, because it was a bigger area. Once he got in there, he started to try to swim upstream. He decided to stop, and went the opposite way, which lead to the Ocean. I couldn’t find him, but I hope he’s okay. Everyday I think if he’s still alive. I hope we put him in a good environment. Thanks to everyone who made this enchanting day possible!