TIC

[Chaz]

Today was the release day for the Trout in the Classroom program at HEreford Elementary School in Berks county. The school kids endured a trying year, first only about 12 trout hatched then a second shipment of trout got ick, and the last shipment of trout there were only about 40 fish. Of the last group all of them survived. They were released in Perkiomen Creek above hte Dam in the Fly section, several darted upstream and out of site.
Hopefully they will survive, but that's not the point of the program. Good luck to other TU Chapters that have fish being released soon.

 

[Foxgap239]

Kudos Chaz!

 

[bearfisherman]

For those of you who have never seen TIC in action, you should. Today was our release day as well. 46 junior high students releasing fish, helping with an electroshocking survey to look at the effect of stream improvements, macro surveys, fly casting, and planting over 100 trees to help repair the riparian buffer. Thanks to all of you that support the program in any way - it is making a difference.

 

[PASKIINGSUCKS]

That sounds like a awesome program.


Is it just ease of access that makes ya take em all the way down to the flyfishing dam?? As opposed to tollgate or somewhere up higher. Shoot you could just about throw a rock into the perky from the hereford school right??

 

[whheff]

This is a great program. I have been involved with TIC for 4 years and I am always amazed at how much interest the kids have and the pride they have in raising their trout.

It is also a good way to get them involved in out door activity and conservation projects.

 

[Chaz]

Just wondering if any of your programs had a lot of eggs un-hatched and did you have problems with ICK?

 

[allan_s]

I think ick was a problem for many classrooms this year... But, its all part of the learning process for the kids. 1st time a wide spread ick problem occured since its inception. I would be very suprised not to see more info on how to ID ick and prevent it in the future. A static salt bath for 30 days is too much for many teachers, but I believe there will be easier ways.

 

[whheff]

Chaz wrote:
Just wondering if any of your programs had a lot of eggs un-hatched and did you have problems with ICK?

I know that our first release did not have as many fish as in the previous years releases. I will let you know what this release is like. It is on Wed.

 

[bearfisherman]

This was by far our worst year - we have two tanks at school, and we went thru 5 different batches of eggs / fry. One batch of eggs died almost immediately from a fungus outbreak, and then we had a lot of issues with ick and fungus. Salt helped prolong the agony a little, but it was pretty bad.

 

[jdaddy]

The program is really growing. There were 43 applicants for 17 grants that cover half the cost. Both of our schools were rejected thus we will be funding 100% of the cost. Those two will take our total to seven schools. We have had a few releases. I have not heard of any egg issues though I am not on that committee

For those chapters actively involved in TIC, what is your target grade level?

 

[whheff]

I just got back from our TIC event and I talked to our coordinator about the Ich and survival issues. He said out of the 4 schools we deal with on 1 had a good survival rate. One lost all their fish and another one had a few fish to release.

jdaddy, we have 1 High School and 3 Middle Schools that we work with.

 

[whheff]

I left one school out of the above statement but this is our final results.

Out of our five schools, only Nazareth and Bangor had success, each releasing about 100 brook trout. Wind Gap lost all but three due to a pH spike and ICH. Easton Academy had a slow die off and Easton lost theirs early on. It has been a tougher year across the state for some reason.

 

[mattofcarlisle]

I staggered my release again this year. Our first batch, which had over 250 hatch, died off over December-January. Amidea sent us about 50 more fry, of which, 15 made it.
My district won't provide for a bus, but will let me take van that holds 8 kids. I wouldn't want to try to contain 130-7th graders, anyway.
We released both batches where the "Run" enters the Yellow Breeches. Aside from the die off, it was a good year.

 

[whheff]

mattofcarlisle wrote:

My district won't provide for a bus, but will let me take van that holds 8 kids. I wouldn't want to try to contain 130-7th graders, anyway..

At our last release on Wed. we had 3 bus loads of 7th graders.
By the end of the day, I was whipped.
Hopefully next year will be better.

 

[bearfisherman]

I took out 46 7th and 8th graders last week for our release - I won't go much more than that as our site is on private property and I worry about something happening. Thanks to the PFBC and TU for a great program - link below is to an article last Sunday on our release day and TIC in general.

Trib Article