Annual fall fish rescue again returns thousands of fish stranded in low pools back to the Deschutes River

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On Monday's third day of the Deschutes River Conservancy's fall rescue of thousands of fish stranded in pools by low water levels, volunteers continued to work their way through the various pools and taking the rescued fish back to the river.

Three teams work together to save fish as quickly and safely as they can.

The consultant team electroshocks the fish, which stuns them without causing lasting harm.

As they come to toward the surface, the second team nets them and puts the fish in water-filled buckets.

The final team escorts those buckets to an entry point in the river, where they are counted and released.

"The main effort is about collaboration," said Emelie McKain, senior water advisor for the state Water Resources Department. "Bringing people together to help solve problems and make sure that these fish can swim another day."

The conservancy says the ongoing efforts to pipe more irrigation canals and keep or return more water to the river should make the recent annual fish rescue a thing of the past in four years or so.