This week, sixth graders at Haines School had to bid a sudden farewell to their class pets – baby salmon. The students collected the chum salmon eggs from Herman Creek in September, and watched them hatch and grow over the months.
Teacher Patty Brown says they planned to release them into the wild in the next couple weeks. But the system that keeps the water in the fish tank cold broke down, prompting an emergency fish release Wednesday. KHNS’s Emily Files visited the class before they said goodbye, and has this audio postcard:
Those were sixth graders Aubrey Cook and Sanona Sundberg, teacher Patty Brown and Fish and Game biologist Rich Chapell. They released the 30 or so chum salmon fry into the Klehini River Wednesday afternoon.