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Photo by Mick Eagleson/ The Advocate
About 30,000 eggs are in the process of hatching in the Fisheries Department. As of Wednesday, 6,000 eggs had hatched. When the fish reach their full growth of 8 inches, they will be released into the West Salish Ponds in Fairview.
Students of the Fisheries Technology Department have recently begun feeding and raising the fish that hatched Oct. 4.
According to Fisheries Technology adviser Todd Hanna, there are two groups of fish hatching. In the first group, about 6,000 hatched, were moved from an incubator to a rearing tank and have now started eating. The other group of about 30,000 fish eggs are in the process of hatching and most likely will be fully hatched by today.
The first group will be kept in the fisheries building for the rest of the academic year and will be raised by students. Sometime in the middle of May or early June when the fish reach full growth (at least 8 inches in length), the fish will be moved to West Salish Ponds in Fairview.
Hanna said that once hatched, the fish can be released at any point, but in terms of survival, the bigger the fish are the better chance they have of surviving. The Fisheries Technology Department is part of the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program (STEP). The department also works with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
It is the students’ responsibility to raise the fish for the rest of the school year until they are ready to be released into the wild. Students will be monitoring the fishes’ health by checking their water quality, providing the proper feeding, and cleaning the rearing units daily. They also will also be regularly measuring the growth of the fish.
According to Hanna, having the equipment available for the students to have constant hands-on experience is very helpful.
“It’s good because we have the fish here all the time so that students can get the experience of raising them and not just have to talk about it and look at pictures,” Hanna said. “The hands-on experience is really good for the students.”
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