(Jersey City, NJ - October 12, 2006 ) Brook trout? In Jersey City ? Absolutely! The fresh water fish were born and bred at County Prep High School , where students in the Aquaculture/Hydroponics course participating in the "Trout in the Classroom" project. Thursday, October 12 was "Egg Day" at County Prep, and other schools around the state, when New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife representatives delivered the brook trout eggs to the their new homes. Students have been raising the trout and watching them grow from hatching, to "alevin," to "fry," to "fingerlings," ever since. When they mature to about four to five inches long, the brook trout will be released back into approved streams.
The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife supplied eggs from the Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education Center of Oxford, New Jersey . Partnering with them is Trout Unlimited , a New Jersey conservation group that is assisting teachers and students with the project. Trout Unlimited representative and former educator, Elmer Hopper, and assistant, George Peterson helped instructors Frank Katusa and Stephanie Szymanski prepare an aquarium for the trout, and then helped students to transfer the eggs to their new habitat. Students have been able to communicate with the team by email, and can read and post news about the project from other schools, on their web site. The students have been invited to tour the Pequest Hatchery in the spring.
The Trout in the Classroom program is a conservation education initiative of the New Jersey State Council of Trout Unlimited and its chapters, the New Jersey Davidson of Dish and Wildlife , and leading educators, and has been in place since 1991. According to the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife web site, "Raising trout is a hands-on activity that engages students and helps connect them to real-life water quality, fish and wildlife issues and problems...and inspires them to seek solutions...the [Trout in the Classroom project] is the first step in fostering in students a sense of stewardship for the planet." For example, as a result of this program, middle school students from Hopatcong, NJ, who called themselves the "Brook Trout Bunch," successfully petitioned the state to have the brook trout listed as the state fish.
Through this experience students learn the importance of clean natural water resources, streambank ecology, and various modes of scientific inquiry. The brook trout thrives in clean, cold water. In New Jersey , clean water is at a premium due to our heavy population. Trout in the Classroom will educate over 4,000 New Jersey students on the need to conserve our coldwater resources. County Prep is one of the first inner city schools to be included in this project, joining those in the more rural areas of our state. County Prep welcomes our new aquatic friends (and their human guardians) to Jersey City !
For more information about this program visit:
