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Courtesy of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Students from UC San Diego’s Preuss School and Mater Dei Catholic High School rolled up their sleeves Thursday to tag cultured white seabass in preparation for next month’s release at Crown Point.

The students are working to boost the species and learn about aquaculture under the “Seabass in the Classroom Project” through a partnership of Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute and the California Department of Fish and Game.

The curriculum teaches students about the origins of their food source, and takes on issues associated with sustainability and water quality. The budding scientists study the fish for weeks in the classroom, observing their behavior and environment. They also conduct lab work and field activities.

Once the fish are released into the ocean next month, Hubbs scientists will track them through tiny coded wire tags that are embedded in the cheeks of the fish.

Fishermen deposit sea bass heads in special drop tanks along the coast of California so researchers can scan the tags and measure how far the fish traveled, how long they lived and how healthy they were.

The hands-on lessons come with an added benefit for the environment: a chance to help replenish sea bass that have been depleted by decades of over-fishing.

A campaign to replenish sea bass began after the population dropped from more than 55,000 to less than 3,500 from the 1950s to the 1980s, when recreational boats targeted the species from Mexico to Santa Barbara.

In 2012, La Jolla High School was the first school in the county to work on the project – and the second in the state – to adopt the project. The program has since spread to more high schools locally and in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

The project is part of the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program, a collaboration among resource agencies, sportfishing groups and scientists.

maureen.magee@sduniontribune.com

Grossmont-Cuyamaca College District receives $1.2M grant to expand services for foster youth

EL CAJON

The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the state to help foster youth reach their education and career goals.

The district plans to use the money to expand support services for its students who come from the county’s foster-care system, with an emphasis on those who are taking at least nine units and are not yet 26.

Both the district’s campuses will see boosts to programs, including specialized counseling and tutoring services, workshops in independent living, basic skills courses during the summer, and help with transportation, meals and books, and housing referrals for homeless students.

The district operates two programs – Unlimited Potential (UP!) and Guardian Scholars – to serve its students who were in foster care as minors.

Grossmont-Cuyamaca will also hire more staff to work with its students who are already enrolled and reach out to high schools.

The district will add five full-time staff, including a coordinator/counselor and program assistant at its Cuyamaca campus, and two counselors with backgrounds in social work and a program assistant for Grossmont College.

Only half of all foster youth graduate from high school, and between 3 percent and 10 percent earn college degrees, said Pam Fleming, Cuyamaca College’s foster youth liaison and financial aid adviser. The district said it will now be able to build tighter partnerships with high schools and universities, county social workers and community organizations to help transition foster youth from high school to college or careers.

“This state program gives us the funding to actually meet the needs of foster youth who, because of instability in their lives, require a higher level of services than most students,” Fleming said.

Grossmont-Cuyamaca was one of 10 college districts in the state to receive the three-year grant from the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, which announced the award Monday. A total of $15 million was award. There are nearly 13,000 current and former foster youth enrolled in the state’s community colleges.

A study by the research institute RTI International, the John Burton Foundation, and the Stuart Foundation, young adults who have been in foster care face substantial obstacles to succeed in college, said a news release from the college district.

The study showed foster youth in community colleges disproportionately face academic, economic, and emotional challenges, the release said.