Belle Isle quarry becomes fishy
Image credit to Phil Riggan of Richmond.com
In the better late than never category I’ve got a story that happened last week. Ralph White and 70 children from Tuckahoe Montessori School loaded up the Belle Isle quarry with all sorts of fish. RTD had the story back on 11/10.
“You are about to change the world,” Ralph White told the crowd from Tuckahoe Montessori School.
With that, the manager of the James River Park sent the kids off to his truck to gather the many boxes in the bed and bring them to the water’s edge. In the boxes, which White picked up at a West Virginia hatchery the previous day, was a mix of aquatic life forms: thousands of minnows, hundreds of bluegill and perch, dozens of largemouth bass, snails, clams and crayfish, and a handful of catfish.
With their parents’ help, the kids opened the boxes, dug into the bags of blue water and started the fish on their short journey to a new home.
I learned two thing from the article. The quarry has been stocked every year for the past 10 years and the quarry became filled with water when workers hit two cracks in the granite and the James River decided to fill the 30 feet deep hole.
The only question is why the private school was the partner, rather than RPS. With the exception of Patrick Henry, RPS ignores these resources.
I think we all know answer to that question. #rpsisadumpsterfire
Why are they stocking it every year? Are they sticking the critters in there to die, or are there a lot more people fishing there than I’ve seen?
@ Jennifer there are probably other aquatic creatures in the pond that are eating the added fish.
I could be wrong but there did not seem to be much in the way of submerged cover that would give small fish a place to hide from predators, such as snapping turtles etc.