Frank from the Ballinderry Rivers Trust visited the school recently to deliver the trout eggs for the KS2 pupils to take care of by changing the water, checking the temperature and removing any casualties to ensure that the baby fish survive.
Once the alevin (fish with yolk sacs) have developed into fry we then arrange the release day. On release day just before Easter, the pupils look for freshwater invertebrates and learn how these indicate how clean or polluted the river is, if there's no food their fish won't survive.
The project helps the children in the local community to take some ownership of their local environment. They learn about the river, what lives in it and how we can reduce the impact we have on the river. They visit the breeding centre and see the work the river trust done with the local Dollaghan Trout, Brown Trout, Salmon, White Clawed Crayfish and the globally endangered Freshwater Pearl Mussel. On their visit to the hatchery they find out about the life cycle of the fish and how the freshwater pearl mussel and fish depend on each other. The pupils will have a better understanding of how the river works and what lives there.
Menu
