And the Salmon Are Released

Friday marked the culmination of the Salmon in the Schools project at Canton Intermediate School.

The class spent the morning at People's State Forest in Barkhamsted, rotating between six stations where they participated in games, scavenger hunts, wrote stories about salmon, tested their sense of smell and release the salmon fry into the Farmington River. 

Each student got the chance to release one of the fry, which were placed into plastic cups by the teachers.

The program, Connecticut River Salmon Association, began with the arrival of 200 eggs to the school in January. It came to CIS for the first time this year at the suggestion of teacher Allison Godbout. 

The eggs were housed in an incubator in Godbout's classroom and students took turns tracking and documenting the growth from "eyed” egg stage to the “alevin” stage, to the fry. Students also documented water temperature, growth and other data throughout the process. At each stage, they drew diagrams, took measurements and learned about the life cycles. 

Roughly 187 of the salmon survived to be released Friday. At the fry stage the fish must find their own food in the river and some will survive until the smolt stage, a physiological change that allows them to survive in salt water and migrate to the ocean. 

The kids were so psyched to come today," Godbout said Friday. "Just to see everybody come together and bring this to a close was so exciting. It was a huge success this year."