Salmon eggs to grow at schools

Chinook salmon eggs were delivered Wednesday to the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, which had received special equipment to support them before winter break, donated by Grant County PUD.

Bob Tuck, of the Yakima Basin Environmental Education Program, delivered the eggs from the Priest Rapids Hatchery. Nearly 100 schools are participating. Every school district in Grant County received a similar donation from the PUD, and Yakima and Kittitas counties schools’ participation was funded from a state grant, Tuck said.

In 55 gallons of water at 52 degrees, the 200 eggs should hatch later this year. The special tank, with a water chiller and filtration tank attached, must stay covered with black paper until the eggs hatch, Tuck told teacher Nate Piturachasatit, whose sixth-graders couldn’t wait.

Mr. P, as he is called, said the school’s teachers will collaborate on some integrated lesson plans involving the fish to supplement the school curriculum.

Wednesday, that already involved a physics lesson. The students had to add rocks to the bottom of the already full tank, so to prepare they had to remove some mass by dipping out water that would be displaced by the rocks.