The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission is using a mobile aquarium to teach people about the waterway’s biodiversity. The organization set up the 2,200-gallon tank at the Winton Woods Outdoor Adventure Expo Friday.
“Do you guys know how many species of fish are in the Ohio River?” outreach coordinator Sarah Segars asked a group of kids around the display.
Guesses started at 70 and grew as Segars said “more.”
The Ohio River supports 160 fish species. Spotted bass, channel catfish and green sunfish were some in the aquarium.
“Most people can't believe that those fish are living in the Ohio, or whatever water body we're sampling,” Segars said. “We just get to talk to them about what we do and what a thriving ecosystem the river is.”
The aquatic animals serve as indicators of the waterway's health, which has improved since the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, but remains endangered by pollution and climate change, according to a 2023 report by environmental nonprofit American Rivers.
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ORSANCO has been using its mobile aquarium since 2002. The education initiative is expensive to maintain, Segars said.
ORSANCO fishes in the Ohio River, or nearby bodies of water with fish species representative of the Ohio River’s population, to fill the tank a day before an event. It uses electrofishing.
“We put electrical current into the water and fish are naturally going to orient to that current,” Segars said. “We fire it at about the same rate as their swimming, and so it creates a scenario where they're coming to the boat. It stuns them momentarily. We can net them, put them in a live well, and then we put them in the tank for one to three days.”
Then, the fish are returned to the water they came from.
“It's like a little alien abduction,” Segars said.
A recent grant from the Duke Energy Foundation allows the aquarium to be free and reach new people, Segars said.