Emergency Orders and News Releases

Contact:
Fritz Kraus
Anchorage Aquatic Education Biologist
Phone: (907) 267-2265

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game Aquatic Education Program and the Anchorage School District will be starting this year’s school classroom salmon projects with a series of silver salmon egg-takes at Campbell Creek in Anchorage, September 19 through September 24, 2005.

Daily schedules are

Mon., Sept. 19 and Tues., Sept. 20 — 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Wed., Sept. 21 through Fri., Sept. 23 — 9:30 am to 2:45 pm

Another egg-take will be held on Saturday, September 24, at 10:00 am, for teachers who cannot attend with their classes. Saturday’s egg take is also open to the general public.

The best photo opportunities are usually from 9:30 to 10:30 each day, when the salmon are caught by the first group of students. All of the egg-takes will occur in Campbell Creek where Folker Street (east of Tudor Road) dead ends at Campbell Creek. Over 2,000 students from 70 Anchorage-area schools are participating in the classroom aquarium program this year.

Students participate in and learn about salmon spawning, fertilization, and habitat requirements. Under a special ADF&G Commissioner’s permit, students take up to 500 eggs back to their classroom aquariums to observe the eggs develop and hatch over the school year. The permit stipulates that the salmon fry from these aquarium projects are to be released into Taku-Campbell Lake, not into Campbell Creek.

The purpose of ADF&G’s classroom aquarium program is to teach students about the lifecycle, biology, habitat requirements and anatomy of salmon. 

School egg-takes will also be held in other Alaskan communities this year, including Palmer, Seward, Homer, Valdez and Kodiak.

Please call Fritz Kraus in Anchorage at (907) 267-2265 or e-mail at fritz_kraus@fishgame.state.ak.us if you have any questions or comments. During the Anchorage area egg-takes, Kraus can be reached at (907) 441-8837.