San Francisco Bay fed by the waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers, Credit: Cloern, James & Jassby, Alan. (2012). Drivers of change in estuarine-coastal ecosystems: Discoveries from four decades of study in San Francisco Bay. Reviews of Geophysics. 50. 1-33.

Rick Sakaji

Interviewed by Camille Antinori and Rob Bermudez, January 31, 2025

For Rick Sakaji, fishing is in the family blood. Since his grandfather brought him to the pier to fish, he has lived an outdoorsy life and continues to fish in fresh waters of California with his family. He describes how exposure to the Bay growing up anchored in him the vast interconnectedness between human actions and the environment, a fundamental principle he has carried with him throughout his career in marine biology, including positions at the state health department and East Bay MUD. The interview covers industrial changes in Emeryville and the East Bay shoreline, resulting in water quality changes over time, historical experiences with Japanese internment and what he sees are important roles for the Berkeley waterfront environment, such as the opportunity to get outdoors.

Clip

Rick Sakaji Clip - MP3 (2.9 MB) 00:01:41

The shuttered Barbary Coast Steel plant c. 1990 in Emeryville, deadending at Shellmound street, in Emeryville, photo: Hamish Reid. Also, see E'ville Archive: Thirty Years Ago - the sudden closing of Judson Steel, https://evilleeye.com/history/eville-archive-thirty-years-ago-sudden-closing-judson-steel/ accessed 3/21/2025.

Judson steel plant in Emeryville, Emeryville Historical Society, https://emeryvillehistorical.org/locations/judson-mfg-company/

Full Interview

Interview - MP3 (79 MB)

Topics (in order):

Grew up in East Richmond Heights

Went to Silesian High School, then UC-Berkeley for BA, MS and PhD

Retired from EBMUD

Also worked for state water boards

Fishing is in the family blood

Dad's father was fishmonger in SoCal

Mom's father was a strawberry farmer

Grandfather brought him to pier

Fishes in mountains with his daughter

Great way to understand where your food comes from and something fun to do to bond with family

Recalls the baitshops on the way to the marina

Jacques Cousteau as one source of inspiration for his career in science and water

Discovery of the innerspace instead of the outerspace

High school diving instructor and unique but short-lived opportunity for the high school

Gets into marine biology

Japanese internment of dad, uncle and aunt in Gila River and the MIS

Mom went to Amache, from Texas

Berkeley businesses: Hinks Department store, Armstrong Business College

Parents meet at Berkeley Methodist United (BMU) Church

Recognizing the interconnectedness of our ecosystems and waterways, from Sierra foothills to the Bay

The experiences on bay gave him an anchor for thinking about the environment

Bay water quality has really improved due to less polluted discharges

Used to be a steel and paint manufacturer near Bay Street

As concentrations get lower, it is more costly to remove further more contaminants

Bay was worst in the 60s although people were subsistence fishing

Harvesting fish roe off the seaweed in the Bay

People don't realize how close we are to the interface of the urban and the wild

Paths leading from the hills right to the Bay - they are they still there

Founding director of Bodega Marine Laboratory (background) Cadet H. Hand Jr. in 1982 on the beach at Horseshoe Cove on Bodega Head. (Credit: Saxon Donnelly photo, https://newsarchive.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/12/13_hand.shtml)

Full interview transcript

Rick Sakaji full interview transcript (PDF)

Citation (APA style):

Sakaji, Rick, Antinori, C., and Bermudez, R. Exploring Intergenerational and Community Connections to the Outdoors. (2024). Interview with Rick Sakaji, conducted by Camille Antinori and Rob Bermudez. January 31, 2025. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Berkeley Fishing Memories Oral History Project.