by Aaron Kinney
(excerpt from Mercury News)
"An experimental project to prevent steelhead trout from dying by the hundreds in Pescadero Marsh was so successful it will likely be tried again next year, federal officials said. In the fall, volunteers dug a channel through a sandbar that forms every year at Pescadero State Beach on the southern San Mateo County coast, trapping water in the lagoon to the east. The trough improved water quality in the marsh, officials said, preventing the "fish kills" of the federal threatened species that for nearly 20 years have occurred when winter storms arrive. The purpose of digging the channel this fall was to alleviate the buildup of oxygen-depleted water and hydrogen sulfide that in recent years has surged throughout the lagoon when the rainy season comes and the heavy flow of water cuts through the sandbar...
…Last year, observers counted 235 dead steelhead after the sandbar breached; Simms said the actual number of fish that died was much higher. So far this year, no fish deaths have been reported following the breach Nov. 30..."