Fishy project for school pupils
Salmon fry (from SNH and Galloway Fisheries Trust)
Pupils will release the small fish into the river to mature
Pupils at eight schools across Tayside will be rearing their own salmon in the classroom.
A tank will be installed in each of the primaries, along with cooling equipment and about 100 fish eggs.
The pupils will then be given a talk about salmon lifecycles and how to care for the eggs and hatched fish.
The pupils will care for the embryos and salmon fry for two or three weeks before releasing the tiny survivors into a river.
The primaries taking part in the project are Auchtergaven; Carmyllie; Moorfield; Seaview; Killin; Stanley; Kinloch Rannoch; and the Royal School of Dunkeld.
'Personal experience'
The tanks installed in the schools will have a special air line allowing water to flow around the system, carrying oxygen to the developing embryos just as it would in a river.
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."
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