Fish in the Classroom 2022 comes to an end

By Amy Fergusson

Another Year Over!!

And what a year it has been with Fish in the Classroom almost back to full strength! We started the year out with some restrictions due to Omicron which could have been a problem but having prepared for virtual classes over the last two years we had all the resources in place to manage this!

Our online teacher hub has virtual class sessions of all the in-class project activities showing the presentation, the tank delivery and even egg delivery in video format so the pupils can understand the different stages of the project if we were unable to do it in the classroom with them. This meant that at the beginning of the project when we were unable to get time with the pupils, we were still able to run the project for them and give them all the learning material, and they would still be able to rear the trout in school as we would hope!

The fish were delivered and handed over to the care of our classes – 10 schools and a nursery – to be looked after from the end of January, through to the middle of March. Once the young trout alevins developed into fry and absorbed the yolk sac, they were ready to be released into the wild where they could hunt for their own food. This is the end of the project when all the pupils will have a walk with their fish down to the river to say goodbye. When down at the river we spend some time looking at the invertebrates that are in the water that they will be eating in their new home.

This has been the most successful year of fish development for all our classes as we have invested time and money into building well-made, enclosed and heavily insulated tanks that have allowed the schools to control the temperature of the water much better. The environment for the fish is much calmer and has evened out their development considerably resulting in fewer losses and nice growth rates. This means a good starting point for the fish as they enter the next phase of their life journey in the wild. And we have to thank our teachers and pupils for putting in the time and effort of looking after their young trout and for engaging with all our activities.

Without the help of our funders, as always, we would not be able to run this project as successfully as we do. Each year we must look for schools who are interested and funders willing to pay for their involvement. This year we even ran a crowd-funder to try and cover the cost of some schools, which we managed to pay for one schools’ involvement.

This is one of the most engaging projects for the Trust in that is teaches the next generation how to care for animals, rivers and the environment as a whole. In this day and age what could be more important than finding young stewards and engaging them in the plight of our fish and our rivers, so we will look forward to many more years of this project where we spread this message as far as possible.

Thank you to our funders Allan Water Angling Association, Murieston Environmental Group, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), The Leven Programme, Fishing Around The Forth, Callander’s Landscape, West Lothian Angling Association – River Almond and everyone who donated to our crowdfunder.