Mirah and a student from Eagleridge Elementary releasing a salmon

This Spring, thanks to funding through Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, (OSPI), NSEA provided supplies, curricula, and staff support to install freshwater aquariums in Acme, Kendall, Central, and Eagleridge Elementary Schools in conjunction with the Students for Salmon Program. This program extension, now in its second year, intimately links students to the salmon lifecycle through raising salmon from eggs to fry in their classrooms.

In late January, 200 Chum salmon eggs from the Kendall Creek Hatchery were dropped off and carefully placed in each aquarium, and students got to witness the stages of the salmon lifecycle unfold before their eyes. They learned that salmon need cold, clean, and clear water, and were responsible for testing the aquarium water to ensure it was ideal for salmon.

The extension activity culminated with the release of the salmon fry after months of watching them grow up and caring for them. On their Students for Salmon field trip, students determined how healthy their local creek is for salmon, and then participated in a stewardship project to leave the creek their salmon were being released into a better place, setting their salmon up for success.

Each student named their fish, made a wish or poem for their fish, and chose one action they can take in their lives to help salmon. One student wrote, “I wish you make it to adulthood. You bring us hope and joy. I wish you all the best.” As students released their baby salmon, many of them were sad to say goodbye after seeing their fish grow up over the past couple of months, but excited about seeing them in the wild, starting their journey to the ocean.

Sam and a student from Eagleridge Elementary releasing a salmon

This incredible opportunity provides students a tangible example that their actions make a difference, and that responsible stewardship can help salmon thrive like the ones they said goodbye to as they released them into their local waterways. This school year 219 students released over 650 salmon fry into 3 creeks – Cedar Creek, Kendall Creek, and Landingstrip Creek. We are excited to announce that, thanks to funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we will be expanding this opportunity next school year for all elementary schools in the Ferndale, Mount Baker, Nooksack, Lynden, Meridian, and Blaine School Districts, ensuring every fourth grader attending a Whatcom County Public School has the opportunity to participate, while broadening the impact students are making on salmon recovery in our region.

On February 22nd, NSEA held the 13th annual Fish Trivia, graciously hosted by Zeeks Pizza. This event is an opportunity for the community to come together and have some fun while raising funds for NSEA.

We were joined by our friends at the Whatcom Land Trust, Bellingham Technical College, and Whatcom Conservation District (in spirit). Each organization provided a round of trivia questions that covered general fish knowledge and organization-specific information. The final two rounds tested folks’ ability to visually identify different pictures of salmonids and to name the title and artist of fish-related songs. The majority of questions were read by our terrific emcee, Jim Helfield, a professor at Western Washington University. His friendliness and passion for all things fish-related made the event even better than we could have hoped.

A total of 121 people showed up and participated in Fish Trivia, more than we have ever hosted since we began holding this event! Along with their enthusiasm and spirit, participants also brought some great creativity in the form of their team names. Some honorable mentions include: Talapia We Finna Slapia, Brain Sturgeon, and Requiem for a Stream. But at the end of the night, the team that took home the prize for best team name was Better Call Saulmon. The lucky winners received five pairs of socks from the downtown sock store Cute But Crazy. Other prizes that we were extremely grateful to have donated to the event came from Makeworth Market, Vital Climbing Gym, the Community Boating Center, and Mt. Baker Ski Area.

There was some drama in determining 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, as we had a tie between two teams for second place. Being the prepared trivia hosts we are, we quickly whipped out our tiebreaker question: What was the heaviest salmon ever caught? Both teams were in the ballpark, but the closest to the correct answer (which was a whopping 126 pound salmon) was Tilapia We Finna Slapia to bring home the 2nd place prize. With just one more point, the 1st place prize went to F the Pebble Mine. Congrats!

Sammy with NSEA’s awesome community program interns

Thank you to all of our wonderful partners and dedicated trivia participants. We love hosting events like this and they are only possible with your participation. The money raised through this and other events also helps us continue to fund our programs that help protect salmon in Whatcom County. This year’s Fish Trivia event raised over $830 dollars for NSEA and we are extremely grateful for everyone that helped make that happen. We look forward to hosting many more Fish Trivia events in the coming years.

Students release salmon this Spring

Testing Bellingham’s Fish Knowledge