Salmon in Schools | Salmon, Up Close: A Program for 3rd – 6th Grades
Salmon in Schools is designed to engage students at local elementary schools in learning firsthand about the amazing journey of salmon by raising salmon eggs from the Marblemount Fish Hatchery and releasing them into schools’ neighborhood streams. Students receive one classroom visit from Skagit Fisheries staff to discuss the salmon life cycle and habitat requirements and two field trips near a local creek.
Classrooms then receive 200 Coho salmon eggs in January. Students care for the eggs and feed the young salmon in a 55-gallon aquarium until they are ready to be released into a nearby stream (3-4 months). The process of raising salmon teaches students about the care of juvenile salmon and the maintenance of fish tanks. Skagit Fisheries staff then lead classes on a field trip in the spring to release salmon fry and learn first-hand about salmon habitat.
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![Today is Endangered Species Day, an internationally recognized day of learning about endangered species and what you can do to help them. According to Skagit County, "three Skagit watershed salmonid species have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. [Additionally, the] Orca whales that feed on these fish have been listed as “endangered,” a more serious classification that triggers the most protective regulations".
Those listed are:
Puget Sound Chinook Salmon (anadromous; listed 1999)
Puget Sound Bull Trout (some anadromous; listed 1999)
Puget Sound Steelhead (an anadromous form of rainbow trout; listed 2007)
NOAA Fisheries has listed 28 population groups of salmon and steelhead on the West Coast as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act - you can read the recovery plans for the genetically different salmon runs from the National Oceaninc and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the link in our bio for more information.
Pictured: Puget Sound Chinook (photo by Jess Newley)
Juvenile Skagit Steelhead
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