Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and schools nurture wild salmon for eventual release

Mon, 03/19/2018 - 2:00pm

    Each spring, schools in the Midcoast partner with Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition in the Salmon in Schools program.

    BBWC President Tom King recently delivered salmon eggs to 12 schools participating in the Salmon-in-Schools Program. Students at each school care for 200 eggs for three months as they grow into fry.

    When the fry are ready, students release them into the Wescot Stream, a tributary of the Passagassawakeag that is not dammed.

    Unimpeded by barriers, but still at great odds, the fry, when mature enough after two years, will be able to run to the sea where they will spend two years feeding off Greenland before returning to their natal Wescot Stream to spawn.

    The Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition supports conservation and stewardship of natural and public resources of the Belfast Bay watershed through research, community building, and education.