Fishing Saves Lives

1. Fishing Saves Lives
Tucker Biorn and Otto Berndt
Photography - What Matters

2. This creek is not just
home to a few fish it is
where these kids will
remember growing up and
playing outdoors all
summer long.This is the
first reason we need to
protect this creek.

3. For us, the creek
is not just
something to do,
it is a home away
from home. It is
an escape from
the noise and the
people, it's a time
where we can be
boys.

4. This water should
be a thriving
habitat for many
types of fish like
steelhead and
coastal trout but
we abused this
creek killing this
ecosystem.

5. This small fish would
call this creek home if
we had taken care of
our creeks. Now it has
to live in an unnaturally
warm water reservoir,
where it is at the bottom
of the food chain not the
top where its rightful
place is.

6. This shows an
underwater picture of
what a healthy creek
would look like. Due
to the dam, the low
water in stretches of
the creek that tend to
go dry in the summer
kill all the fish below
the dam.

7. Over the 9+ hour we have spent
fishing, we had one small bite that
missed. This shows how badly we
have treated this creek. It was one
the best fisheries in the south bay
area before the dam was put it in,
but now we can barely see if a
fish, let alone catch one.

8. I was thrilled with the first
catfish I ever caught. Its name
was Betsy and I think it was
this fish that got me to truly
love fishing. Fishing is one of
my favorite things to do
anytime of day, anywhere. I
love it.

9. hiking(otto)
For most of us, hiking
is a weekly
experience. We try to
go every weekend to
somewhere new.
Most times we hike to
a spot to fish or when
backpacking we catch
our own food rather
than carrying it.

10. This shows the amount
of water that is being
trapped above Searsville
Dam and not let down
into the San
Francisquito creek
habitat. By letting the
water flow into this
habitat, it is killing the
steelhead and coastal
rainbow trout population.

11. Stanford did the Searsville
Study to look at taking the
Searsville Dam out to help the
local fish population. Stanford
wants to leave the dam in place
and look at other ways to
provide fish passage - like build
a 50 foot tunnel through the
dam or a fish bypass channel
around the dam. Stanford will
look at removing the dam again
in the future if these options
don’t work.

12. Every day hundreds of
different chemicals are
slowly seeping into the
streams. Along with trash
and other junk, people
throw unwanted paint,
insecticide, fertilizer and
even waste oil.

13. What we can do
What we can do?
Hazardous waste disposal
days happen once a
month, dispose of your
unwanted chemicals
properly. Creek clean up
days happen every week
or so, do your part and
help. Water monitoring is
a good way to stay
informed about the health
of nearby streams.