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Big Randy, a sturgeon from Katie Bryant’s 7th grade class, is photographed in the aquarium at Lakeville Middle School. Her class is one of several science classrooms in Michigan that incorporate sturgeon into the curriculum and use them to teach children about conservation and natural resources. (Photo courtesy of Katie Bryant)
LANSING — Sturgeon can live more than 50 years in rivers and lakes, but one sturgeon will spend the first six months of its life in Katie Bryant’s seventh-grade science classroom.
Jay Widerski recently walked into Lakeville Middle School with a small fish in a plastic bag. He dropped the bag into his 75-gallon tank and waited for the temperature to even out. Then he opened the bag and took out the fish.
Fish, Bryant’s class and kids from Lakeville, Genesee County, are participating in the state event. “Classroom Sturgeon” program. Schools raise young sturgeon to teach children about conservation and environmental management. Approximately 10 schools participate each year.
Also participating this year are Alcona Elementary School, Cheboygan Middle School, Holt High School, Inland Lakes School in Indian River, Onaway High School, Quincy Elementary School in Zeeland and St. Lorenz Lutheran School in Frankenmuth.
“The kids are really enjoying it.” Bryant said. “This is a really good example of the damage that has been done to Michigan and how people are trying to mitigate the damage.”
Lake sturgeon, the Great Lakes’ oldest and largest native species, are now endangered but were once abundant in the region. They have a lifespan of 50 to 150 years and have been measured up to 6.5 feet in length.
However, due to overhunting and development, their numbers have decreased dramatically. Only 1% of the lake’s historic population of sturgeon survives.
“Our Sturgeon in the Classroom program is essentially our large-scale educational outreach.” said Widerski, president of Sturgeon for Tomorrow, the nonprofit organization that originated the classroom program.
“This program is about educating and hopefully getting you to love sturgeon, just as I have since I was 4 years old.” Widerski said.
Sturgeon for Tomorrow will distribute one fry to each participating school, and students will be responsible for caring for the fry throughout the year.
At LakeVille, Bryant’s 75-gallon tank sits in front of the classroom. A nearby cooler keeps the water cold, and a freezer stores bloodworms that the sturgeon feed on. Bryant students are responsible for feeding and changing the water weekly.
“I teach one child how to feed the fish, and then the child has to teach someone else.” Bryant said.
Bryant will teach about the anatomy of sturgeon, their place in the ecosystem, and related fishing regulations. She said the fish are good ambassadors for conservation and a good sign of a healthy ecosystem.
She also teaches the importance of protecting natural resources and biodiversity.
“If these kids tell their parents and their parents tell someone else, we hope that we can let a lot of people in Michigan know.” she said.
Currently, Lakeville’s sturgeon are smaller than the palm of your hand, but by the time Bryant’s students release them, they will be about a foot long.
Children love this program “It’s all about feeding the fish and taking care of the fish.” Bryant said.
Here are the students’ reactions to the sturgeon: “Absolutely huge.” Mr. Widarsky said, likening it to a child adopting a new kitten.
Last year, Bryant students named a sturgeon. “I grimaced.” It is named after the friendly purple character of fast food giant McDonald’s. Bryant said her former students sometimes tell her they miss Grimas.
This year, her students named the fish. “Big Randy” Bryant said Randy is more active than previous sturgeon.
“Everyone has a different personality.” she said. “There was something that just poked the top of the tank.”
“Sometimes they’re really calm and just stay on the bottom. Sometimes they’ll swim around, catch zoomies, or escape to the sides of the tank.” she said.
Some students interrupt class due to activities.
At the end of the school year, the release of sturgeon becomes a community event. Students invite their parents and grandparents and the class releases fish into the Cass River in Frankenmuth, which has no dams to prevent sturgeon from spawning.
“Then we’ll walk to Heritage Park and celebrate.” Bryant said.
Lake sturgeon are one of 27 species that make up the family Sturgeon, and have been around for 200 million years, swimming up rivers and around lakes since dinosaurs roamed the earth. .
Lake sturgeon are easily recognized by their long, flat snouts and the bony armor covering their backs called scutes. They have four whisker-like appendages called barbells on the bottom of their snouts that they use to find food along the bottom of lakes and rivers.
When commercial fishing began in the Great Lakes, lake sturgeon were abundant but not desirable. They were either discarded or burned for fuel. Later, more commercially viable uses were discovered and they were harvested for meat and eggs, but overfishing decimated their numbers.
In recent years, lake sturgeon have occupied a cultural niche in the Great Lakes. In the Cheboygan County community of Indian River, a 32-foot-long steel sturgeon statue sits on an exposed stone in a grassy field by the side of the road.
Each year, hundreds of anglers scatter onto the ice at Black Lake near Cheboygan in hopes of spearing one of the six sturgeon assigned to the fishery by the Department of Natural Resources. was. In a large canvas tent near the shore, Sturgeon for Tomorrow sells sturgeon-themed sweaters, T-shirts, pins, stuffed sturgeon animals, and more.
Sturgeon for Tomorrow hopes to expand the program to southwest Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
“The work we’re doing today probably won’t last long enough to see the results.” Widerski said. “It’s not about me. I’d like to say that it was, originally. But I’m far from there now.”
Keegan Schrader, a seventh-grader, feeds Big Randy at Lakeville Middle School. Schrader and his classmates will be in charge of caring for the fish this school year.
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