On April 8, Mrs. Kiefert’s class from Journey middle school released their coho salmon fry into De Mamiel Creek.
The class watched them evolve from eggs, to alevin and then into fry and got to release them into their natural habitat.
When Mr. Waring (a volunteer from the Watership Foundation) brought the fish, there were approximately 220 eggs and roughly about 20 of them didn’t survive. We raised them in a tank in the class that had a temperature of six degrees. The temperature of the creek was 10 degrees so some of us thought the change in temperature might have affected the fish’s survival.
We walked the trail behind our school down to De Mamiel Creek. The water rushed really fast over the slimy rocks. It was a bit slippery. The weather was cloudy but it wasn’t cold or raining. When we released them, different fish did different things. Some of them tried to swim upstream right away and got caught in the strong current, some of them hid under rocks. Some of them were too shocked to even get out of the bucket! Over all, we think most of them probably survived.
It was a fun chance to experience of the beginning of the coho salmon life cycle.
By Allana Garat and Marin Clarkston (Grade 6)
Journey middle school