LISTEN: Kodiak fourth graders release fry into Island Lake
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— release into lake.JPG
A fourth grader releases her fry into the lake on May 21. The release is part of an archipelago-wide Salmon in the Classroom program run by the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, where students raise hatchery Coho salmon from eggs to fry before sending them off into the wild.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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KRAA staff set up stations for the fry release at Island Lake. They work with schools across the archipelago to do releases like these at the end of the school year.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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Coho salmon fry were placed into individual cups for kids to grab. A total of 196 fry survived long enough to be released, including one conjoined salmon.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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Students get off the bus at Island Lake. All four of Main Elementary's fourth grade classes participated at once.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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Teacher Amy Arneson gives instructions to the students. This is her tenth year doing the Salmon in the Classroom program.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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The students wait in line to pick up salmon fry
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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Students picked up their salmon fry in a cup before releasing it into the lake
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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— A student carries her fry.JPG
A student carries her fry down to the lake
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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A student's fry swims away from the cup. Of the couple thousand fry released by all of the archipelago's fourth graders, KRAA staff say maybe a handful will survive until adulthood.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
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The view of Island Lake from the release point. Although these four classes may be done with the program, KRAA staff will start the process all over again next fall with a new crop of fourth graders.
Katherine Irving/KMXT
