Want to attract schools? Turn to these students - baltimoresun.com

11/15/2009 Want to attract schools? Turn to these st…www.baltimoresun.com/sports/outdoors/bal-sp.thomson15nov15,0,3732438.storybaltimoresun.comWant to attract schools? Turn to these studentsBy ON THE OUTDOORS Candus ThomsonNovember 15, 2009As the politicians and bureaucrats blather on about fixingwhat ails the Chesapeake Bay while farms andsubdivisions continue to flush away, a group of AnneArundel County students and teachers are doing theirpart to make the upper bay more fish- and fisherman-friendly.The kids, budding scientists who go to Chesapeake BayMiddle School, want to drape a necklace of submergedconcrete reef balls around the 300-foot fishing pier atDowns Park in Pasadena. "All of us want to do this to help the environment. Wewant the population of fish and oysters to increase,"explains Kelly Klovensky, a seventh-grader.The pier is a wonderful structure from which youngsters, seniors, the handicapped and families can cast theirlines. Except for one thing: The structure lacks structure, that is, the kind of underwater features that attract fishand bring them closer to shore. During youth fishing derbies, volunteers sling chum bags attached to ropes into the bay to entice the fish.Otherwise, pickings would be slim."This artificial reef would help people catch more fish," says Mary Arlauskas, another seventh-grader. Placing chunks of concrete on the bay floor has improved fishing in lots of places, from the Gooses near theChoptank River to ...