"WASHINGTON — Bruce Holmes, 65, grew up fishing on the Anacostia River, a 9-mile (14-kilometer) urban waterway that flows through Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland, and has long been defined by pollution and neglect.
Back then, Holmes would keep what he caught with his family — usually carp or catfish — and take it home to fry. It was the 1970’s, and he didn’t know how contaminated the water was.
“There wasn’t no throwing it back in,” Holmes said, “Whatever we caught we ate. Or we sold.”
Now, decades later, Holmes no longer eats what he catches from the Anacostia as he’s learned more about the river, but teaches adults and children in the capital how to fish as the river undergoes something of a comeback. He hopes the fishing lessons double as a clarion call to help clean up and maintain the river he grew up around."
Suman Naishadham reports for the Associated Press June 5, 2024.
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