RSS Outdoors Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009, 6:57 am PST
Students help salmon spawn
When asked what the students would be doing at the Millicoma Fish Hatchery on Thursday, 11-year-old Amber Clawson replied “whacking fish on the head with big sticks.”
Of course, there was more to it than that. But Tom Rumreich, a fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, just laughed at her response, because the children do get to hit female salmon on the head in order to harvest her eggs.
“It seems gruesome, but it’s much more than that,” Rumreich said. “They’re playing a role in the life cycle of the fish.”
And that’s exactly what the fifth-grade class from Millicoma Intermediate School accomplished, after donning camoflage-colored waders too large for them. They jumped in the water, weilding a net, and sifted around to catch one of the 40 Chinook salmon at the hatchery.
Of course, there was more to it than that. But Tom Rumreich, a fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, just laughed at her response, because the children do get to hit female salmon on the head in order to harvest her eggs.
“It seems gruesome, but it’s much more than that,” Rumreich said. “They’re playing a role in the life cycle of the fish.”
And that’s exactly what the fifth-grade class from Millicoma Intermediate School accomplished, after donning camoflage-colored waders too large for them. They jumped in the water, weilding a net, and sifted around to catch one of the 40 Chinook salmon at the hatchery.
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