PHOTOS: South Surrey hatchery program schools students on salmon

Students from Richmond got up close and personal with some genuinely small fry in South Surrey recently, courtesy of volunteers at the Little Campbell Hatchery.

The students, in Grades 5 and 6 at Westwind Elementary, visited the 1284 184 St. property on April 13 to learn about ongoing efforts to boost and support salmon populations in local waterways.

The visit was part of the hatchery’s Salmonids in the Classroom Program, an initiative that provides opportunities for elementary students to hatch and raise fertilized coho salmon eggs in their classrooms, then release them into the river once they reach the fry stage.

Through the program, students learn about the life cycle of the salmon and have opportunity to check out the inner workings of the busy hatchery firsthand. It’s where an average of 44,000 chinook, 35,000 coho and 10,000 steelhead are raised every year, essentially as “sacrificial fish” that will hopefully give genetically superior wild salmon a better chance at survival.

READ MORE: Coho salmon off to a good start at South Surrey hatchery

The students also learn about the fish fence, how the salmon are netted and counted, and, get to feed the fish in the coho pond. And, during a guided tour along the 29-acre property’s nature trail, they learn about other wildlife that call the area home.

“We talk about beavers, turtles, that sort of thing,” Bill Ridge, the hatchery’s school co-ordinator, explained.

Ridge described the school program – which has been running for well over two decades – as “just a really neat thing,” and a great opportunity to showcase just how much unfolds at the volunteer-run hatchery.

By the end of this school year, some 50 or so classes will have taken part.

Pre-COVID, volunteers hosted more than 100 classes every year, from schools in White Rock, Surrey, Delta, Langley and Richmond. Ridge expects those numbers will get back to similar levels next year.

“We’ve had to obviously start again with new instructors and all that, but it’s up and running and doing well,” he said Monday (April 17).

Ridge said there is still time to arrange a school tour; they’ll continue through the end of May. There is a nominal charge of $100 per class.

Those interested are asked to email littlecampbellschooltours@gmail.com