April Fools Joke?

Bill Wright on the Port Authority staff produces a feature on our website called Through the Years. It's a month-by-month look back at the history of the Aerospace Center and its predecessor, the Newark Air Force Base.
One of the best stories may have actually been an April Fools joke either played by someone on the story teller or played on the readers by the Base newspaper. Or maybe it actually happened. You be the judge.
Here's the excerpt:
30 Years Ago - April 1978
There's something fishy in Metrology! The following story was told by metrology physicist, Howard Hopkins. " A live goldfish was recently discovered swimming in a trash can in the engineering office of Metrology's DC and Low Frequency Standards Lab. The trash can was being used to catch water from roof leaks during the recent heavy rains. Apparently, the fish had slipped into the building with the rain water through the crack in the roof and had fallen into a plastic sheet used to channel the water into the trash can. Hopkins speculated that the fish may have been swept up from a pond and dropped on the roof of Building 4.