A population of fish commonly found in the Chesapeake Bay is slowly
declining, but they are on the road to restoration because of some
local students.
Around 4,000 students from more than 50 schools in the area have
released their classroom-grown American Shad fish into the Potomac and
Anacostia Rivers.
"When they're small, they're microscopic," said student Jeremy Daniel
"It's silver. It's about that big and it basically looks like a fish," said Brian Wilson, Living Classrooms Outreach Educator.
Finding the breed in the wild is becoming harder, because of pollution
and over-fishing. So the Living Classrooms Foundation partnered with
schools in the area to boost the population.
"We've been testing the water and taking the dead eggs, separating them," said student Mira Willson.
Teacher Molly Simms said, "We prepare the water a week in advance before we actually receive the eggs."
It takes just a few days for them to hatch and when they do, they need to be released.
Shad breed in fresh water so that's why they were released into the
Anacostia River. In a few months, they'll mature and eventually end up
in the Chesapeake Bay before going out into the Atlantic Ocean.
On Friday, thousands of students said goodbye to their shad fish.
"They were very excited to be a part of saving the environment in a very positive way that they can relate to," said Simms.
Among the 2,500 released, only half are expected to survive.
