Veteran Trawls the Delta, Dives Deep Into Fisheries Careers with CCC

In 2017, Josafat Ismael Alvarez III was working on a Navy aircraft carrier stationed in Virginia. “I was a blue shirt,” he said. “When aircraft landed onto the ship, I would chock the wheels of the jets and chain them to the flight deck.” His job ensured that the planes would stay in place while out at sea.

After leaving the military service, Josafat searched for a new opportunity that would take him outdoors. Swapping out his blue shirt for a blue hat, he decided to join the California Conservation Corps and enroll at the CCC Delta Center.

After a few months responding to flood emergencies, Josafat transferred into the CCC-NOAA Veterans Corps Fisheries program where he’s monitoring fish populations living in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, close to his hometown of Stockton. “Other than being on a boat on the water, I had to learn everything from the ground up,” he said.

Josafat is learning a lot. Everything from how to measure water quality to identify numerous native and invasive fish species living in the Delta. The data he, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service team, collects will help state and federal agencies understand the status of fish species of concern.