Program helps repopulate the Pacific
Earth Day falls on April 22. Founded in 1970 by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, it marked the start of the modern environmental movement, raising awareness and leading to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency the same year.
This issue the Chronicle looks at a few individuals for whom everyday is Earth Day and who involve themselves in environmentally conscious activities, businesses, and education.
63-POUND white seabasses and Torin Anderson on the Betty O’ sports fishing boat.
Torin Anderson of Leimert Park loves to fish. “It’s the closest thing I know that can slow time down. It keeps me sane—or halfway sane!” He made the choice to ease out of corporate life and spend more time in the “reel world,” where he is on the board of directors of both Marina Del Rey Anglers Fishing Club and the South L.A. Chapter of the Costal Conservation Association. He even works at Sav-on Tackle in Santa Fe Springs—the 74-year-old business is one of the oldest and biggest tackle shops in L.A.—to be close to his passion.
On a kayak, a charter boat, on shore or off, lakes, oceans, rivers—any sort of fishing—Anderson is your man. His favorite fish to catch are white seabass from the Pacific Ocean around the Channel Islands. Overfished by commercial fishermen, they suffered historic population lows in the late 1900s, which prompted Hubbs Seaworld Research Institute to work on repopulating the ocean with the species through aqua-culture support. That is where Anderson decided he could make a difference.
For more than eight years he has volunteered with the group Pen Pals through MDRA and in partnership with CCA and Hubbs to support the population of his favorite fish. “I give back so I can keep having fun,” he said.
SUSTAINABLE FISHERY helps once-endangered fish.
“The fish arrive to us in October at about three inches long. My jobs include feeding them and doing maintenance on the pens. As volunteers we also do a good deal of recording growth, water temperature, and deaths of any fish who are finally chipped for research. Release day was early this year, March 5, because of their unusually fast growth in 2026. They were crowded into a pen and transferred to a bait tank on the sports fishing boat, the Betty O (which is over 100 years old and happens to be the same boat we will fish from later!). We successfully sent out 1,458 white seabass. That night, at the dock, we released more from the containment gates without predation as we shielded them from hungry sea lions. They swam out to populate the Pacific.”
A report in 2022 that involved Hubbs and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said that white seabass from Southern California release programs are a huge success environmentally with 30 percent of wild caught adult fish being from the hatchery. “Conservation is key,” said Anderson. “We have to give back in order to continue to receive.”
Fair winds, Mr. Anderson!
Category: People
