Salmon Fishing Scotland Salmon Eggs in the Classroom.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Salmon Eggs in the Classroom.
Salmon Eggs in the Classroom.

Stanley Primary School concluded their popular Salmon Eggs in the Classroom project by re-visiting the Shochie burn at Luncarty this week some 3 months after planting 100 salmon fry there back in March.

The purpose of the river visit was to establish if the fry survived and how much they had grown. Dr David Summers from the Tay Salmon District Fishery Board came along to help by electro fishing the burn as the Pupils watched. Several fry, (probably the fish the pupils released) salmon parr and eels were caught.
Ian Montgomery and Mandy Cook from the Perth and Kinross Council also helped.

Dr David Summers and Ian Montgomery electro fishing the Shochie Burn with the Stanley Primary pupils.

Pupils released the small fish into the river to mature having reared their own salmon in the classroom.

A tank was installed in the primary school, along with cooling equipment and about 100 fish eggs.

The pupils were then given a talk about salmon lifecycles and how to care for the eggs and hatched fish.

The pupils then cared for the embryos and salmon fry for two or three weeks before releasing the tiny survivors into the Shochie at Luncarty which flows into the Tay.

The children will also be learning about the environment in which the fish live and the challenges that face them as they mature migrate to the marine environment and return to the freshwater environment to spawn.

Denise Reed, Scottish Natural Heritage's manager for the project, said: "The Salmon in the Classroom project gives children such a personal experience of river ecology and the salmon life cycle that we hope the messages they learn will stay with them.

"We hope that these activities will help to encourage in the children a fascination and respect for their local burns and rivers, as well as the fish populations that can be found within them.

"The project helps children understand the part that Atlantic salmon play in Scotland both in terms of their environmental importance and their economic importance."

This was an extremely popular school project at Stanley.

Finally the fish are released back to the river.