1) Four fish - Gilbert, Emily, Nicole, and Maddy - discover a "dead zone" in the Chesapeake Bay filled with dead sea creatures. 2) They realize the entire bay has become contaminated and devoid of oxygen, endangering their survival. 3) The fish are able to get food that was stolen by crabs by letting the crabs cut their gills, allowing them to breathe easier in the low-oxygen environment. 4) With their new ability to breathe, the fish are able to survive and escape the dead zone.

1. Jack Dunkenberger – Gilbert
Kayleigh Pratt – Emily
Kelly Devens – Nicole
Brittany Mallette – Maddy
SURVIVING FISH FRIENDS
MORAL – Survive with the things you have and can find and work as a team.
Once upon a time, in the Chesapeake Bay, four fish, Gilbert,
Emily, Nicole, and Maddy, were swimming peacefully in the
waters. The Chesapeake is home to many of the sea creatures of
many different shapes, sizes, and kinds.
Gilbert, a fun flounder, loved to play sea ball. He was always
very talkative and always had a big smile on his face. Emily, a
bluefish, was the creative one of the group. She would always be
coming up with new ideas or learning something new to share with
the rest of our Chesapeake friends. Nicole, a puffer fish, was a
friendly, loving fish, and always had her arms open for someone.
She was always wandering around, looking for new adventures.
And finally, Maddy, an angel fish, who loved to make new friends.
She always had a welcoming personality that would make you feel
great on the inside.
One day, when they were playing sea ball, they noticed
something a little different about the bay. Less and less fish would
play with them. They saw something coming towards them. They
watched a dead crab shell float past them. They looked toward the
direction the crab came from.
“Hey, look! That’s something you don’t see everyday!”
Gilbert exclaimed.
“Let’s go check out where it came from!” Nicole said, as she
raced off.
“Maybe we shouldn’t! There could be a murderous giant
squid in there!” Maddy said nervously.
“Oh, come on! It will be fun!” Nicole replied.

2. Jack Dunkenberger – Gilbert
Kayleigh Pratt – Emily
Kelly Devens – Nicole
Brittany Mallette – Maddy
Once they reached what looked like where the dead crab had
come from they couldn’t believe their eyes. There wasn’t a
murderous giant squid like what we expected to see but, a pile of
dead crabs, fish, and other sea creatures that were probably dared
to enter that place.
“I’ve heard of these places before! They’re called dead
zones! They sounded bad, but not as bad as this!” Emily
mentioned.
Maddy looked over at the dead crabs and said, “Aw poor
crabs!” She was just about to enter the dead zone when Gilbert
pulled her back.
“You know. Something is a little fishy about this place.” said
Nicole.
“Oh, sorry that’s me…” Gilbert said, “I forgot to take a
shower this morning.”
“No! Does anybody feel like it’s hard to breathe here?” she
replied.
Emily and Maddy put they’re fins on their mouths and
mumbled, “Yeah. I’f smellfs therable fere! We bethher get outtha
here, or we’ll run out of oxygen!”
After that, they turned and saw Gilbert swimming ahead of
them already! They darted off as fast as they could, swimming to
their home. When they got there they realized their home had
turned into a dead zone too!
“There’s no escaping!” Gilbert whined. He grabbed all the
food he could hold, even though probably contaminated, and
darted off. It seemed that the whole bay had turned into a dump. It
was disgusting! All were barren and empty, all food like plants
gone, and algae covered the surface.

3. Jack Dunkenberger – Gilbert
Kayleigh Pratt – Emily
Kelly Devens – Nicole
Brittany Mallette – Maddy
“This place is horrible! If we didn’t live on oxygen we could
live here. It would be great if we had something to breathe with!”
Maddy said.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to find a way,” Emily added.
At that very moment Gilbert got pinched by a grumpy
Johnny crab. He drops all the food they had left and, we all
watched it float off into the dead zone.
“Oops!” said Gilbert.
“That was ALL of our food! Why did you let go of it?”
Emily shrieked.
“Sorry….. It wasn’t me! It was that crab, and he has all our
food!” he replied.
“We have to find a way to get our food back.” Maddy said
looking directly at the dead zones.
“Let’s go! I’m not afraid of a dead zone or an old crab!”
Nicole said.
“Well I am. There is no way I am going in that place. Who
knows what could be in there!” Maddy exclaimed.
“But we neeeeeed you to come. Were all in this together, and
don’t forget. You are so good at getting the other fish to
understand,” Nicole said with a smile.
She pulled at her fins and then said, “Well, alright I guess I’ll
come. We are all in this together. Sorry about that,” she said shyly.
They all approached it slowly before Nicole took off into the
murky water.
“I see our food! It’s over there with those crabs!” Emily said.
“Let’s go!” They got closer and closer to the crabs.
“Aw they look so hungry. Poor crabs!” Maddy said.
“But we’re hungry too!” Emily shrieked! “We have to
survive.” They were so close they could almost touch it. Snap! ,
went one of the crabs.

4. Jack Dunkenberger – Gilbert
Kayleigh Pratt – Emily
Kelly Devens – Nicole
Brittany Mallette – Maddy
“Hey, get your dirty little claws off me!” said Gilbert. He got
cut three times on both of his sides. Then, all of the crabs snapped
into action. They cut the rest of us, and we all had gashes on our
sides in a matter of seconds!
They watched Emily wipe some blood off of the side of her.
“Hey, look. Does anyone else feel a whole lot better?” Emily
said.
“I do! It's much easier to breath now.” Gilbert said. They all
got three cuts on both of their sides.
Nicole grabbed the all the food while the rest distracted the
crabs.
“Go, go, go! Swim as fast as you can! I got our food back,"
she said. The distraction didn’t have to last long. Some crab
catchers reached in to the water. They scooped up all of the crabs.
“Bye!” Gilbert yelled and waved goodbye.
“Don’t be so mean to them! Think about if you were in their
shoes!” Maddy said with a frown. They all giggled at the funny
comment.
“Well, I guess we can go home now since we can survive
better with our gills.” Nicole said.
After that, they went home and all lived happily ever after.