Two elementary schools in Moose Jaw are once again nurturing an aquarium of trout hatchlings as part of the annual educational conservation project organized by the Wildlife Federation.
The Fish in Schools program is something the Moose Jaw Wildlife Federation does every year in partnership with both local schools and the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund, who provide the hatchery kits and fish eggs.
“A lot of learning, whether you like it or not is theoretical, but here it’s hands-on,” said MJWF president Todd Smith.
This year, both École Ducharme and Palliser Heights Elementary School received a trout egg kit, which means students have been able to watch the progress of the eggs as they hatch into free-swimming fish.
These particular trout eggs came from the Fort Qu’Appelle Fish Culture Station in Echo Lake. They arrived in mid-January and are already calling their respective schools home for the next few months.
“We get a hundred eggs per kit generally, and they come in the eyed stage, so they've been fertilized and they've started developing to the point where you can see the fish's eyes inside as well as some of the circulatory system and part of the spine,” said Smith.
The program is always a hit with the students, who are now tasked with taking care of the hatchling trout until late spring when they are ready to be taken to a local body of water to join the ecosystem.
“Every year, they're super excited. They love watching the fish,” said Smith, who is also the teacher administering the program at École Ducharme.
The fish hatched in Moose Jaw and area have been released into the Buffalo Pound trout pond for the last few years, meaning that some of the trout caught in the lake could have gotten their beginnings in one of these schools.
The Fish In Schools program is a unique educational tool, especially as it teaches students about more than just the biology of a fish’s life cycle in a very hands-on capacity.
“With Grade 1, kindergarten, all the way up through Grade 12 sciences, there's tie ins throughout the curriculum everywhere,” said Smith. “The kids take what they have seen in a textbook and now they're watching it unfold in real life.”
Students get to learn about factors that affect hatch rates, and even run tests on the aquarium environment — to determine things like water quality, oxygen levels, ammonium nitrate content, and so on.
“From a teacher's point of view, we can develop entire units around data collection and analysis, and then conservation, giving back to resources, human impact on the environment, the list goes on,” said Smith. “It's a pretty phenomenal program.”
The Wildlife Federation organizes the Fish in Schools program every year, usually beginning when hatch kits arrive around mid-January, and Smith encourages schools to get involved with next year’s program.
