Young fish in the hands of youngsters

VIRGINIA BEACH

Alexandra Land scanned the bottom of the fish tank, looking to see whether the half-inch-long fish were doing OK.

Land last week was Cape Henry Collegiate School's "Designated Death Checker."

Spotting tiny dead fish in a 55-gallon aquarium isn't easy. But the fourth-grader from Chesapeake has a keen eye.

"I don't think it's moving," Land said, pointing to a fish moving along the bottom rocks, pushed by the current from a strong filter. "I think this one is dead. I don't know.

"We need the vacuum."

While Ethan Olivieri and Ryan Mancoll used a kit to test the water for proper chemical balance, Taylor Schoolar got the plastic suction device and stuck one end in the water, the other in a bucket. Water soon flowed and the small fish appeared in the bucket, its body lifeless.

"Got it," Alexandra said matter-of-factly.

"I'm going to keep cleaning the bottom," Taylor said.

"OK," Ethan chimed in. "We need to change some of the water. The nitrates are too high. "

It was just another day in the office for Trout Team - one of many that rotate out of a group of 80 fourth-graders participating in the school's Trout in the Classroom program sponsored by Trout Unlimited.

The students spend several months raising 200 brook trout from eggs to fingerlings. The fish eventually will be stocked in the South River in Augusta County. Before Thursday, 15 fish hadn't made it. One had two heads.

"We all understand that this happens... right?" said science specialist Pam Northam, who started the program at the school last year.

The four children nodded, unfazed by the loss.

Alexandra scooped the fish out with a small net and helped her teacher place it on a glass slide so that the four could examine it under a microscope. But they wasted little time before getting back to the work at hand.

Throughout the 45 minutes they spent with the tank, the four asked questions and provided answers.

"This is project-based learning," Northam said. "This is the way they learn about the environment and the cycle of life and anatomy. They are the ones asking the questions, not the teacher.

"And you can see how they take ownership of what they are doing."

The four Trout Team members confessed that they skip recess so they can check on their fish and help take care of them. "It's fun," Ethan said. "We're learning lots."

Alexandra injected quickly: "We've learned that they like a clean environment."

Brook trout are considered by Trout Unlimited to be "indicator fish" - meaning that they don't exist where conditions aren't good.

The hands-on aspect of the program is what caught Northam's attention.

She had to get sponsored by a TU chapter, then had to come up with funds to offset part of the program's $1,000 start-up costs. TU agrees to pay for half. Northam was able to get Doug Bitterman of environmental engineering company CH2M Hill to pick up the rest. The cooling machine that keeps the water in the aquarium at the required 50 degrees is the costliest part of the program, at $500.

Once the aquarium was set up, Northam met a TU group in Richmond to get the first batch of eggs last fall. Once they reached the required length of nearly 3 inches, Northam rigged a large boat cooler with an aerator for oxygen and bags of ice to keep the water cool enough for the nearly five hours to the South River.

Northam arrived at the site with other Trout in the Classroom participants from around the state. About 100 schools in Virginia are participating - thousands from around the country.

"It was in the middle of the game department's trout festival," she said. "I wanted to let them go somewhere away from the fishermen. But they were too small to catch, so we let them go with all the others."

Northam is hoping that next spring the second batch can be placed in the river by members of the Trout Team. But that's months away. Right now, team members are focusing on their tasks and having fun.

Taylor was finally done vacuuming and had removed enough water to help balance chemicals. She pulled out the tube and sent a foot of water cascading over the side of the aquarium, not seeing that Ethan had been standing there watching.

When the team saw he was soaked, everybody laughed.

"They're learning plenty," Northam said with a smile.

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com