Brandon Twp.-On Friday a long ‘tale? for about 70 Chinook salmon will begin.
At noon, April 17’Peggy Miller-Zelinko’s fifth-eighth grade science class at Brandon Academy of Arts & Sciences will release their salmon from the shore of the Clinton River, in Rochester Hills a local watershed that feeds one of the Great Lakes.
Thanks to a $500 grant from the Ortonville Rotary Club, along with $200 from DTE, students received Chinook salmon eggs last November from Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, Van Buren County. The project is part of the Salmon in the Classroom program supervised by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
‘It’s been a great learning experience for the students,? said Miller-Zelinko. ‘The students are really into the project and keep watch over the eggs and now small salmon each day.?
The Salmon in the Classroom program incorporated more than 100 Michigan schools last year. The learning experience provides students the opportunity to raise, care for, and maintain the salmon in their classroom from fall until spring.
Natalie Elkins, a MDNR education specialist who oversees the salmon, has been in Michigan classrooms for more than a decade.
‘Salmon in the Classroom teaches students about everything’from the life history of fish to the importance of the Great Lakes and fishing to Michigan’s traditions and way of life,? she said.
The king salmon average a weight of 30 to 40 pounds and 38 inches in length when fully grown.
‘The smolt are about 4 inches long right now,? she said. ‘It will take about a year-and-a-half to be full grown and will return and spawn in the fall. That’s their cycle.?
Miller-Zelinko follows strict guidelines outlined by the DNR, which include keeping the eggs in a 50-gallon tank with 47-degree treated water. The water is continually agitated to simulate a moving waterway. Each school that participates in the Salmon in the Classroom program receives a permit to release the fish from the MDNR.