"Scientists and advocates hail catch of smallmouth bass as sign of improved Cal-Sag Channel water quality," Daily Southtown
Daily Southtown: Summary - Mike Ress, an environmental research technician at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, said he was anxious at first to work in the Cal-Sag Channel, as his south suburban family told him to avoid the waterway growing up due to its reputation for poor water quality.
But Ress said through his work with the MWRD he has found the channel has become a wild, vibrant ecosystem with herons and beautiful fish species such as the pumpkinseed, which he and other MWRD scientists attribute to regulatory changes and new water treatment systems.
Most recently, Ress and his coworker, Mike Portala, who is also from the south suburbs, made history in finding the largest smallmouth bass in more than 51 years of MWRD fish monitoring on the Chicago Area Waterway System.
The fish weighed 3.9 pounds with a length of 19.7 inches and was returned to the waterway.
The duo found the fish in October on their last day of surveying for the season, which begins in June, and the find has been championed by MWRD officials as a significant positive indicator for water quality and ecosystem health.