PORT ANGELES — After two months of rearing coho, Monroe Elementary School students on Thursday released 500 salmon fry into Tumwater Creek.
Fourth-grade and fifth-grade students began caring for the fish after receiving fertilized salmon eggs at school in February.
Students were excited about Thursday’s release and optimistic the inch-long fry will survive.
“I know they will make it,” fourth-grader Hannah Cook said after releasing a few salmon. “They are pretty smart, and they each have their own personalities.”
“Maybe some of the fish will make it,” fourth-grader Jake Sullivan added. “It is really hard to say how many will live.”
Monroe students have been learning about coho since the donated Hurd Creek Hatchery salmon eggs in February. The students cared for the fish in a tank at the school.
Hurd Creek Hatchery is located on Hurd Creek, a tributary of the Dungeness River south of Sequim.
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