Something fishy is going on at Mission Creek.
Goldfish and koi, that is.
The Santa Barbara Creeks Division and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife captured and relocated 30 non-native goldfish and one large koi fish from Mission Creek on Monday.
City staff first saw the fish about two months ago but then were unable to see them again for weeks, according to Caroline Shepherd, Santa Barbara Creeks Division assistant planner.
“It’s important to us that we get them out of there because they actually compete with our native fish for resources and eat amphibian eggs and can really wreak havoc in the creek,” Shepherd said.
The fish are considered invasive and will outcompete with the native fish because they can grow quickly and eat a lot, Shepherd added.
Exactly how the fish got into the creek is unknown and is not being investigated. If Creeks Division staff were to see more non-native fish in ponds, they would begin to investigate more, she said.
Following the relocations, the Creeks Division took to Instagram to announce the capture and urge residents not to dump their former pets into local creeks, a possible explanation as to how the fish got there in the first place.
Shepherd believes the fish could have ended up in Mission Creek from dumping or because of rainwater flooding.
“It could have been someone’s pond overflowing and could have been totally accidental,” she said.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife staff members trekked through the creek to capture the fish through a method called electrofishing. They stuck probes into the water to emit a small electrical frequency to stun the fish, allowing easy capture with nets.
No fish were harmed during the process, according to Shepherd.
“They wake right up,” she said. “It is a really low level of electroshock.”
The fish were then relocated to ponds and fountains around town.
Mark Davis, owner of Santa Barbara Koi, helped the city find new homes for the fish. He said the koi pulled out was especially impressive because of its vibrant red, white and black color pattern.
“I could have sold that thing for thousands,” he said, adding that he didn’t because he didn’t know what kinds of diseases the koi might have.
Similarly, he does not think the koi was dumped on purpose. He believes local flooding might have pushed it into the gutter, where it would have eventually landed in the creek.
“If you want to get rid of a koi fish, you run a Craigslist advertisement and it will be gone in minutes,” he said.
Shepherd said there might still be some leftover goldfish in the creek if one were to look down from the bridge on Gutierrez Street.
“We will have to do a little cleanup effort to finish that up,” she said.
