Endangered Fish Relocated After Palisades Fire Returned; Steelhead Can’t Go Back

The tragic and devastating Palisades Fire affected so many Los Angeles-area residents, but also impacted fish and wildlife in the region. Now, during the recovery period, the Los Angeles Times reports that some of the fish that were relocated have been reported. Here’s more from Times’ reporter Lila Seidman:

In January, Dagit orchestrated a successful rescue of 760 of the semi-translucent, swamp-colored fish from Topanga Lagoon, an unassuming biodiversity hotspot located off the Pacific Coast Highway that drains into the Santa Monica Bay.

The Palisades fire that sparked Jan. 7 tore through the area, scorching all of the critical habitat for the gobies and an endangered population of steelhead trout that occupied the same watershed. Soon after, meteorologists predicted rains that could sweep massive amounts of sediment into the water, threatening to kill the fish. 

To save the gobies from that fate, scientists and citizen volunteers arrived on Jan. 17 and used giant nets that served as sieves to retrieve the fish that rarely exceed a length of two inches.

The report also stated that the endangered Southern steelhead that were also rescued and relocated are still not considered safe to return to Malibu Creek.