Thanks, Peter!

peter, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

None of this would have been possible without Peter from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Looking for fish

BJEbank, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

These third graders saw some other fish in the river that our salmon will meet.

300 fish

dump2, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

After many cups of fish, about 300 were released.

Into the River

dump, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

The students poured their cups of salmon into the river.

Into the cups

scoopbucket, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

Each student had a few fish scooped into the cup of river water.

Union River

union, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

We released the fry into the Union River.

Scoop

scoopBJJ, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

We had to scoop the last few fry out of the tank with a net.

Siphon

siphon2, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

The fish were siphoned out of the tank they have lived in for over two months.

fry

fry, originally uploaded by ecoteat.

The fry just before leaving school for the Union River.

It's amazing to see how much they have changed since hatching two months ago!

And they're off!

Today we had a lovely sunny morning sandwiched between many days of clouds and rain. I don't know if the salmon cared one way or the other, but the good weather made today even more fun for us humans who let the fish go.

After using a siphon to transfer the salmon fry from the tank to a bucket, we loaded up the bus and drove 35 miles to the right spot on the Union River. Once the temperature of the water in the bucket was adjusted to be closer to the river temperature, each person used a paper cup to scoop up some river water, get a few fish put in the cup with a small net, and pour them into the river.

It's amazing to think that at most only a few of these 300 fish will return to this spot to spawn in 4 years. It's also rewarding to know that my students and I did something important to help the population of Atlantic salmon.

Photos coming soon. . .

Adios!

Goodbye, little fishies. This Friday we will let you go. Good luck!

Love,
Mrs. Bebell and her science students

Almost ready to go

We will be releasing the salmon soon. It has been such a great experience to raise them this far from little eggs. They are developing stronger bodies and their egg sacks are almost all used up.



They like to pile up together; most of the salmon are all usually squeezed in the corner of the tank.