Elementary Students Raise Salmon

Students at Carl Cozier Elementary are becoming young scientists while raising salmon at the school. Kids from kindergarten to fifth grade are learning about the lifecycle of the fish and how they grow in a protected environment to strengthen their science skills.

Raising the salmon in a protected environment offers a better chance for salmon survival during the development phase from egg to fish. In the wild, salmon can lay up to 3000 eggs and only about 10 or 15 will survive. The elementary received 200 eggs from the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association and only one egg has been lost so far.

The salmon will be raised in a 144-liter tank at the school until they have developed enough to be released into Whatcom Creek.

Classes are assigned responsibilities for raising the salmon by their grade level. Kindergarteners learn about the lifecycle of the fish and how they dig holes to hide from predators, second graders check the water quality of the tank and older students make sure the temperature is the right degree.

Kindergarten teacher Erica Wayerski is in charge of the project and says her students are excited about raising salmon.

“They love it,” Wayerski said. “Every day they come in and stand around the fish tank checking to see if they have hatched.”

The students are currently anticipating fish to start swimming around the tank as soon as their yolk sacks disappearing. This allows the fish to be able to be fed by the students instead of receiving their nourishment from the sack.

“Right now the salmon are still fry,” Wayerski said. “They come in as little tiny pink eggs that look like rocks and they slowly start hatching.”

Students will gain knowledge about the lifecycle of salmon that will make the junior scientists, Wayerski said. The kids will learn about different types of salmon, phases of development and parts of the anatomy that help a salmon swim, breath and eat. Lessons also include how Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest depend on the fish for food.

Lisa Conlan is a second grade teacher at Carl Cozier and teaches science lessons to two classes about salmon. Her students have examined what determines a healthy living space for the developing fish.

Using their math skills, Conlan’s students determined each salmon has about one liter of water to swim in.

“We figured out the volume of water in the tank by building a huge model out of our math cubes,” Conlan said. “We’ve had a great time using a four-month calendar to record physical changes and development of the salmon from eggs to alevin to fry.”

While the kids check the tank daily to see if any eggs have turned into fish, the part most exciting to the students is the release day, Wayerski said.

Each kid will get a cup containing one fish to pour down a slide. They send their aquatic friend off with a wish and release them into the stream.

The staff at Carl Cozier has received positive feedback from students on this project and the experience has impacted some students for many years.

“I have kids who were in my class 15 or 20 years ago who still talk about it,” Wayerski said.

Along with Carl Cozier, Happy Valley and Larabee elementary also participate in similar salmon raising projects.