GREATER LOS ANGELES YOUTH FISHING PROGRAM

Marina Del Rey Anglers has, for over seventeen years, sponsored a program for at-risk, underprivileged children whereby groups of approximately thirty children are taken on a half-day fishing excursion on the ocean. The children are recruited from churches, YMCA’s and Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs in poorer neighborhoods. The children are brought to Marina del Rey by bus or private vehicles. Marina del Rey Anglers provides them with drinks and snacks along with the use of fishing tackle. All of the fish that the children have caught are filleted and divided among them. 

Instruction is given the children to enable them to be successful in their angling. They are briefly instructed regarding conservation and the ecology of the local marine fishery. The children learn some facets of conservation as they fish. For each fish that is caught a decision must be made whether to keep it or release it; the rationale being whether it is valuable as table food or not. If not, they are encouraged to release it in as good condition as possible. The value of “catch and release” is emphasized. 

HALIBUT DERBY BENEFITS WHITE SEA BASS

During the year 2000 and since then, several legal size White Sea Bass have been caught and traced back to the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program.  Those fish were in the wild for over four years.  This is very good news to the Marina Del Rey Anglers, because they are evidence that our White Sea Bass Grow-Out Facility, which has been supported by the Marina Del Rey Halibut Derby for eight years, is a success.

The Marina del Rey Facility is one of fourteen such operations up and down the coast of California, that were authorized by legislation in 1984, as a means of replenishing the once-flourishing White Sea Bass population in our coastal waters.  The fish are spawned and hatched at the Hubbs/Sea World Hatchery in Carlsbad, California.  When they grow to 2 to 4 inches, they are distributed among all the grow-out pens.  The program has released a total of over 1,000,000 fish since its inception in 1995.  Of these 65,000 were released by the Marina Del Rey Anglers in the last 7 years.  Only now have they had time to reach the legal 28 inches.  Many of these fish are expected to start showing up in local catches within the next few months.

When a legal White Sea Bass is caught, it is important to remove the head, which contains a microscopic inscribed wire tag.  Take it to one of thirty weigh-in stations along our coast.  The head will be forwarded to the Hatchery where information on the tag, concerning its spawn and release, can be decoded.  For the location of these stations, call the United Anglers at 714-840-0227.

The funds to establish the Marina del Rey Facility have come primarily from the Marina Del Rey Anglers Annual Halibut Derby.  All materials for the first pen were purchased from revenue of the Derby.  Labor, maintenance and equipment for the pens is donated by club members.  Food for the juvenile fish is paid from the Ocean Enhancement Stamp you buy with your annual fishing license.  By participating in the Derby, your entry fee is a direct contribution to the replenishment of our White Sea Bass fishery.