QMHS Students Participate in Shad Restoration Project

As another spring approaches, students throughout the Washington D.C. region will be helping return American Shad to the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Since 1996, over 50 schools from Washington D.C., Alexandria, Fairfax,  Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties have raised American Shad in their schools and released them at sites below Great Falls, at Leesylvania State Park, and in the upper Anacostia River. The fish swim over 12,000 miles in their lifetime, leaving their release site in the Potomac River to swim out to sea and then returning to where they were born to lay their own eggs.

In late March, Shad tanks are assembled in the classroom by the students. In April, students and teachers go out onto the Potomac River to collect their shad eggs, accompanied by the last commercial waterman in Fairfax County, Virginia, Louis Harley.  The eggs are brought back to the school and placed in the shad tank, allowing students to watch the fry hatch throughout the week. Students then travel to release their young fish at Great Falls National Park, Leesylvania State Park.

This year, for the first time, Quantico Middle School  students will participate in this "Living Classroom" activity.  Science 6 and Science 7 students at Quantico Middle/High School will be rearing and releasing a population of this troubled fish.  These Quantico students will be learning about the importance of stream water quality management, macroinvertebrate studies, water chemistry, the interconnectedness of our activities as humans, and the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Last year, students in the area released over 20,000 fry into the Potomac . The program will be funded this spring in Virginia by the Virginia Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund.  The Chesapeake Bay Foundation provides its classroom curriculum, Schools in Schools to complete this exciting, hands-on restoration effort.

Thanks in part to these students’ efforts, American Shad are returning to the Potomac River in increasing numbers. This Shad conservation success story gives a message of hope, demonstrating that people really can make a difference in helping restore our rivers and fisheries.    

Borrowed in part from: http://www.livingclassroomsdc.org/