District News

Students learn about raising trout in the classroom

 

Nov . 17, 2011

 

The fifth graders at East Hill Elementary School recently traveled to SUNY Cobleskill to take part in the “Trout in the Classroom Project,” where they took an active role in the trout spawning process.

The students took some of the more than 80,000 eggs collected back to their classroom fish tanks, where they will measure the growth of the fish. For the next six months, students will feed the fish and test the water to maintain an optimum environment. Step by step, the classes will see the eggs develop into fingerlings. In the spring, the classes will release their trout into a local stream in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Before students were allowed to touch a live fish, they learned the proper procedure for handling the creatures by Brent Lehman, manager of the SUNY Fish Hatchery.

Then, in groups of four or five, students netted fish from large plastic tanks housing different trout breeds and moved them into small plastic tubs filled with a mild anesthetic. One by one, they took the fish out of the tubs and squeezed bright orange eggs from the females, and milt from the males. Using a feather, they gently stirred them both together to complete the fertilization process. Hatchery staff members placed the eggs in plastic bags for the trip back to school.

Canajoharie teachers Kathleen Dopp, Diane Gutowski, Joseph DiVisconti and Joan Kolodziej accompanied the students along with many parents.

See the pictures below.

(Click on any thumbnail to view a 3" x 4" image in a new window.)