ST. PAUL - Students and staff at École du Sommet in St. Paul are getting up close and personal with the life cycle of Rainbow Trout through their participation in the Fish in Schools (FinS) program, offered through Bow Habitat Station.
This is the first year the francophone school has been part of the program, and staff members are learning just as much as students as they navigate through the complexities involved in hatching fish and helping them thrive.
Biology teacher Sylvie Dumont explained how the school had requested to be part of the program last year, but was not able to. This year, the program was opened up to more schools, creating the opportunity to get involved.
While Bow Habitat Station supplies some of the necessary items for the project - like the fish eggs - and plenty of guidance, the school had to invest in the equipment, which includes a large aquarium.
There are many "technical" aspects to the project also, says Dumont, such as the school requiring a licence with the provincial government to raise the fish.
On Jan. 12, the school received its shipment of about 66 fish eggs. After working through a few challenges, the fish began to develop, and students documented the changes daily, while also working to keep the water temperature in the aquarium at a stable 9.5 degrees Celsius.
Now, the fish have grown into tiny creatures that truly resemble fish, rather than eggs. According to the necessary calculations, it was time to release the fish from their small underwater basket into the rest of the aquarium on Feb. 14.
By the end of May, the fish should be ready to release into the wild. Where exactly the students and staff will release the Rainbow Trout is up to the provincial government, and those details are not yet available.
While the Biology 30 class has been involved in the project, other high school students have also been able to learn through the FinS program. The school currently has an option for students that focuses on angling and fish management, for example. The Chemistry students will also get some hands-on learning by taking water samples, monitoring the aquarium's pH and oxygen levels, among other things.
The students have also been posting the progress of the project online, through a website they created, in French.
While this year involved quite a bit of learning for Dumont and other staff, moving forward, she hopes for increased student engagement as the school gets more comfortable and familiar with the process of keeping the fish alive and well.
FinS is a provincially funded program. Other schools in the Lakeland region have also been part of the FinS program.
"Aligned with learning objectives identified in the Alberta Education curriculum, Fish in Schools is a unique education tool supporting the delivery of science and nature topics, including: a trout’s life cycle; fish adaptations; healthy aquatic habitats; [and] water quality," according to information from Bow Habitat Station, located in Calgary.
