NEWPORT BEACH : Big Day for Little Fish in Big Bay

When Jock Albright peers into the mesh-lined tank floating in the murky water of Newport Bay, he gets excited.

Inside the protective tank swim 2,700 white sea bass, each about 8 inches long. They have lived in the 7-foot-deep container since April, growing from 3-inch fingerlings until they are large enough to be released into the ocean.

Like a proud parent whose child will leave the house soon, Albright has been looking forward to today, when the fish will be freed.

“This is the first batch, so it is exciting,” said Albright, while standing on the 50-foot wooden deck that surrounds the holding tanks moored in Newport Harbor. The floating fish farm is operated by the Pacific Fisheries Enhancement Foundation, an arm of the Balboa Angling Club. It was created last year to boost the white sea bass population, said Albright, the foundation’s president.

Complete with a solar-powered feeding device and an overhead screen to keep out hungry birds, the fish nursery is the only one of its kind in the county. Sometime after the first school of fish is released, another batch of the bluish-gray fingerlings will be shipped from a hatchery in San Diego.

A favorite among sports fishermen and gourmet chefs alike, white sea bass were once plentiful along the Southern California coast, but in the past four decades, pollution, overfishing and gill net fishing have cut their numbers, Albright said.

For example, in 1950 more than 50,000 of the fish were caught by recreational fishermen, according to the Balboa Angling Club. Currently, 5,000 are caught in a good year.

The growth tanks are designed to replenish the species while allowing marine biologists to learn about the fish’s lifestyle.

“Much of what we are doing is experimental,” Albright said. “Every day we get boaters who come up and ask, ‘How’s it going?’ ”

Each of the 2,700 fish at the facility has a small metal tag embedded in its head that can be read by a computer like a bar code.

Once the fish is caught, scientists with the state Department of Fish and Game and the Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute will use the tag to add to their knowledge of the white sea bass and the experiment.

The species live 20 years and grow to 80 pounds.

If the fish enhancement project succeeds with the white sea bass, a program for California halibut might follow.