LONG BEACH, Calif. /California Newswire/ — This week, Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) in partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific, released STATE of the RIVER 3 – The Long Beach Fish Study. Freshwater fish in the Los Angeles River at Willow Street from 2014-2015 were studied for toxicity and were found to be surprisingly low in PCBs. The study area is a fresh water section that is soft-bottom with plants and Willow Trees with an occasional Sea Lion and/or Sea Turtle swimming up to catch some fish.
Rosi Dagit, Biologist from the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and Sabrina Drill, Natural Resources Advisor with UC Cooperative Extension were hired to collect and catalog the fish species in the Willow Street area. Dr. Gossett at Cal State Long Beach retained a few of the fish that were collected and studied them for Mercury, PCBs, Pesticides and Flame Retardants – The results are complied in a 100-plus page document that will be handed out (One per person) at the event. Thank you to all the Anglers and Citizen Scientists who volunteered to make this study possible.
The event starts at 6 p.m. where you will be greeted by The Los Angeles River Rover at the front doors of the Aquarium of the Pacific – 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach CA 90802
From there you will make your way into the Patio on the East end of the Aquarium (Look for signs). Our Sponsors & Partners will be on hand showcasing their current projects and by 7pm we will enter the Ocean Theater at the Aquarium of the Pacific where the program of our work will be highlighted by guest speakers.
At 7 p.m. – Assemblymember O’Donnell will give Opening Remarks
The STATE of the RIVER 3 – The long Beach Fish Study will be then handed out as the evening program ends.
In 2008 FoLAR released STATE of the RIVER 2 – The Fish Study, that studied the fish in the Glendale Narrows section of the Los Angeles River (See link Below)…
http://folar.org/wp-content/uploads/studies/fish-study-2008.pdf
This report follows the first state of the River:
http://folar.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/State-of-River.pdf
Currently FoLAR is working with biologists on STATE of the RIVER 4 – The Sepulveda Basin Fish Study. Similar to the other fish studies we are compiling a list of species and their toxicity in the Recreation Zone in the Sepulveda Basin with results expected by 2017. With the completion we will have established a baseline for Lower, Mid and Upper Los Angeles River fish and their health.
