MARQUETTE -- Schools in the central U.P. have been part of it for the past decade.
Sixth grade students at Negaunee Middle School recently took 158 salmon from their classroom to the Carp River in Marquette. They've been a part of the whole cycle of life, since the beginning.
“Every morning, we would change the water and clean the tank,” says sixth grader Austin Argall.
“I think it's really cool watching them grow up, because it's something different,” adds sixth grader Samantha Carlson.
In November, five schools in the U.P. were supplied with aquariums and 200 salmon eggs from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. During the winter months, the students were constantly learning about the salmon as teachers incorporated their progress into various lesson plans.
“You talk about the fish, their life cycle, the food, their habitat, the cleanliness, the conservation aspects of having salmon in your cold water stream,” says classroom coordinator Bob Jensen.
The teachers and students have been raising the salmon since the eggs hatched in January--right now they're about three or four inches long--then they released them into the Carp River.
The program is funded by the Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited, an organization committed to preserving and rehabilitating cold water fisheries.
“This is a real eye-opener for them because they raise the fish all winter. It's incorporated into the curriculum, and then they come out here and get to release the fish and see them in the stream, and then we also collect bugs, which is their food,” Jensen adds.
It costs about $1,000 per school for the program. Right now, there's a waiting list for next year.
Members of Trout Unlimited say this is, fins down, their favorite part.
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