Salmon In The Classroom

Students from Gilbert Elementary School in Gwinn capped off a science project by releasing fish that they’ve raised into the Dead River in Marquette.

It’s called the Salmon in the Classroom program.

The Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited has tanks of fish at schools spread across the central U.P.

And the Michigan DNR provides salmon every fall to fill the tanks.

The kids took care of the fish from the beginning of their life cycle until today.

Chapter president Jim Cantrill says the students learn a great deal about the local environment through the school year and then, every spring, they set the fish free.

Both Trout Unlimited and the kids hope the salmon return to spawn.

Another part of the program involves learning what the salmon are going to eat once they’re released.

Cantrill says he and the kids go bug-finding in the river after releasing the salmon, looking for things like crayfish, which the larger fish will feed on.

Five other schools participate in the ‘salmon in the classroom’ program.

That includes Negaunee Middle School, whose students released their salmon into the Carp River last week.

Posted by: Mike Hoey