Rescue teams donned waders and headed into the dim Malibu lagoon scorched by the Palisades Fire. Their mission: Save the lives of the northern tidewater goby, a small, endangered fish.
Destructive wildfires have burned the slopes of the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, and now rain threatens to send massive amounts of sediment into Topanga Lagoon, a death trap for fish.
Late last week, a team of biologists from multiple government agencies mobilized to try to catch the swamp-colored, translucent gobies ahead of the storm. But success is not guaranteed.
Rosi Dagit, chief conservation biologist at the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Refuge, holds a net filled with federally endangered tidewater gobies that inhabit Malibu’s Topanga Lagoon. fish.
This is a seasonal population low for the species, which spends the winter hiding under rocks and vegetation. The sandbar that separates Topanga Lagoon from the Pacific Ocean has been washed away by high tides and the influx of water used for firefighting — an unnatural breach that threatens to wash them into the waves.
But soon after the scientists—trained, in training, and citizens—threw large nets that served as sieves into the salty water, shouts of joy began. They hit the goby jackpot.
“The goby gods are working with us,” said Rosi Dagit, chief conservation biologist at the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Refuge and leader of the rescue effort.
Then she exclaimed, “Oh, look at that!” Another goby was saved.
Within a few hours, they had moved 760 healthy gobies into plastic coolers, exceeding their goal of about 400.
Dray Banfield works with the California Conservation Corps’ Watershed Steward Program in partnership with the American Legion to help save the gobies that inhabit Topanga Lagoon.
While the gobies were secretly moved to safety, another fish of greatest concern remains in danger. The last known population of steelhead trout in the Coastal Range, located in the same watershed, will be rescued Thursday through a more challenging operation.
Help may come just in time, with Los Angeles County expected to receive its first rain in months this weekend. While the fish saved are an immediate win, the burned watersheds may take years to recover. Offline habitat means there are fewer places to move fish in an emergency.
The Tidewater Goby is a hardy fish with little luck. The fish can withstand extreme changes in temperature and salinity, and can even suck air from the surface if conditions force them to do so.
But their numbers have declined dramatically due to habitat destruction from agriculture and coastal development, prompting their listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. These fish are also threatened by drought and invasive predators.
Steelhead trout — once found in most streams in the Santa Monica Mountains — are also declining as their habitat is lost, degraded and fragmented. Silver trout migrate to the ocean and then return to their natal freshwater streams to spawn, a cycle that can be impeded by dams and concrete channels. A unique population in Southern California is listed as endangered by the state and federal government.
Topanga Creek, a biodiversity hotspot that flows into Santa Monica Bay, is the last refuge for steelhead trout along the coast and is home to an estimated tens of thousands of tidewater gobies.
Crews use nets that act as screens to catch gobies. A total of 760 gobies were rescued during the rescue mission.
“Much of the native vegetation here is unusually protected, which supports native fauna,” said Alyssa Morgan, the resource preserve’s project manager. “Especially as these hotspots become fewer and fewer, it’s really, really important to protect them.”
The conservancy provides programs and services in watershed management, restoration, research and education throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas. It is not a regulatory body but can provide advice to such bodies.
Malibu Creek, a nearby watershed, burned in December. Daggett said this is the first time in her 38 years of monitoring that the Malibu and Topanga watersheds have disappeared at the same time. Normally, they would “mark” the creek, but now no fish can be moved to Malibu.
“We can’t continue to have these fire drills,” Daggett said during the recent goby rescue, calling for a more strategic approach.
Many partners were involved in the rescue, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey and California State Parks.
The fires have created relocation challenges in other areas. Kyle Evans, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the massive Woolsey Fire in 2018 scorched creeks in the Santa Monica Mountains that have not yet recovered enough to Extent of fishing.
“Over the past 100 years, the amount of suitable habitat has decreased significantly due to anthropogenic impacts of land and water use, while frequent wildfires have added stress to already compromised systems,” Evans, who leads the steelhead rescue, writes in the book wrote.
Evans said the country’s agency has been conducting fish relocation and rescue efforts since it was founded more than a century ago. “In the past this might have been to replenish stocks, plant fish or plan around water diversions or dams,” he said, “but in modern times, rescues and translocations are used as management tools.”
Saving steelhead trout will be more complicated, Daggett said. Unlike small gobies, steelhead can grow up to 2 feet long. They need to be transferred to an incubation truck equipped with a large water tank.
Access to the creek will be difficult and roads will need to be closed, Daggett said.
“Look how badly burned these hillsides are,” she said, referring to the scorched slopes looming on the Pacific Coast Highway. “It’s not even as bad as being in the creek.”
As the trout’s fate hangs in the balance, the rescued gobies are safely tucked away at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and the Healing Bay Aquarium in Santa Monica.
Brenton Spies, an instructor at Cal State Channel Islands who has expertise in gobies, said how long the fish can be kept in captivity depends on when the storm arrives. A storm or two might wash away the debris in the water, potentially allowing them to return safely.
Gobies only live about a year, so those involved in the rescue mission were told that collecting the largest specimens wasn’t ideal – they probably didn’t have much life left.
Rescue came quickly; time was of the essence.
Spies said goby populations were decimated during the 2017 Woolsey Fire and Thomas Fire.
“We couldn’t rescue them in time,” said Spies, who took part in the recent rescue operation.
Tidewater gobies are hardy fish that can withstand extreme salinity and temperature differences. However, habitat loss has led to a decline in their numbers. In 1994, they were placed on the federal endangered species list. Above, they swim in an orange bucket.
One of these ill-fated people, he said, lived in Carpinteria Creek, which flows into the Santa Barbara Channel. There, telephone poles and massive vegetation crowded the lagoon for months.
“It suffocated them,” he said, noting that the lagoon did not breach.
Rescuers croon to the newly liberated gobies before they are herded into their new habitat. Dozens of fish swim around in blue coolers, blissfully unaware that they may have narrowly escaped danger.
“They’re so cute,” said Luke Benson, a field technical biologist with the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District.
“The little eyes at the top really appeal to me,” said Jelly Kahler, the district’s community engagement manager.
Amid the prosperity, the tragedy of the still-burning fires—human, environmental and other tolls—is brewing.
Staff in the district said mobilizing in a pinch is nothing new to them, but the effort was different given the personal impact many experienced in the fires. As of Wednesday, the Palisades Fire was 70% contained, destroying thousands of homes in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
“We’ve had fires in Palisades and Topanga, and our trees and fields used to be burned, but now entire towns in our community have been burned so far away from us,” Kahler said as he drove to the rescue. close.
Daggett, who lives in the Topanga Canyon community of Fernwood, was evacuated during the emergency.
She wrote in an email Friday afternoon after the goby was successfully rescued that she had just learned she would be returning home the next day.
“Absolutely a great day!” she wrote.
