{"id":1969,"date":"2022-10-07T18:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T18:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-usc-dornsife.pantheonsite.io\/wrigley\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2024-07-19T17:44:22","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T17:44:22","slug":"raising-and-restoring-giant-sea-bass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2022\/10\/07\/raising-and-restoring-giant-sea-bass\/","title":{"rendered":"Raising Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Wrigley Institute’s Research Laboratory Technician Victoria Sperow inspects the giant sea bass as it swims away following release. (Michael Couffer)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Raising Giants<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n Wrigley Institute partners with local institutions to help restore a keystone species\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n By<\/span>Kathryn Royster<\/strong>\n \n October 7, 2022<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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On a sunny day this summer, a small but excited crowd gathered at the\u00a0Wrigley Marine Science Center<\/a>\u00a0(WMSC), the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies\u2019 satellite campus on Santa Catalina Island. It was release day. After more than two years of carefully raising three giant sea bass at WMSC, Research Laboratory Technician Victoria Sperow was getting ready to say goodbye to her charges.<\/p>\n

Sperow took responsibility for the bass in March 2020 and carefully tended them for more than two years as part of a partnership with California State University Northridge (CSUN), the\u00a0Cabrillo Marine Aquarium<\/a>\u00a0(CMA) in San Pedro, and California State University Long Beach (CSULB). Together, the four organizations are aiding efforts to restore an apex predator to the kelp forests of Southern California\u2019s San Pedro Channel.<\/p>\n

Fished almost to extinction in the 1970s, giant sea bass slowly began to rise in numbers after the state of California banned their intentional catch in 1981. The establishment of a network of\u00a0Marine Protected Areas<\/a>\u2013including Catalina\u2019s Big Fisherman Cove, where WMSC is located\u2013also helped. The giant fish are still critically endangered, however, and in dire need of continued conservation and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince giant sea bass are endangered and they visit our cove a lot, we thought raising these individuals was a good opportunity to teach students about the species,\u201d Sperow says of the fish that were released this summer. \u201cIt was cool to be able to show people these animals that can get up to 500 pounds and live up to 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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