Students in Botelle School’s upper intermediate class are raising salmon this winter, planning to release them into the Farmington River come spring.
Tom Stanton of the Connecticut River Salmon Association (CRSA) delivered 300 Atlantic salmon eggs to Botelle School Thursday in an environmental education program, Salmon in Schools.
CRSA operates its program in approximately 65 Connecticut public schools. Students participate actively in all phases of the program, from rearing salmon eggs in the classroom to stocking the river. CRSA provides guidance and teacher education, technical assistance and materials, as well as links to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The eggs are harvested from salmon that have previously returned to the Connecticut River. They will hatch about mid-February as alevin, small fish about one to one-and-a-half inches long that are supported by a yolk sac on their stomachs. The yolk sac is their sole food source.
By the end of April or early May, these creatures reach the stage where the sac has been absorbed and the fish look like a small minnow.
A specialized incubation tank was set up at the school for their arrival and students will monitor the eggs on a daily basis as they develop. When the salmon reach the stage where they can no longer remain in the tank they will be released into the cool waters of the Farmington River.
The tank is set up in math specialist Shilo Garceau’s room and she will help the students monitor temperatures and growth every day.
The Farmington River is a crucial part of the Atlantic salmon restoration effort in the Connecticut River watershed, offering significant spawning habitat. Although wild populations are still recovering, biologists have found salmon nests and eggs in the Farmington, indicating a return of its former populations.