Although the project timing and exactly what you may do will vary from place to place, the timetable below describes roughly what is likely to happen:
January / February
You will meet the person who will run the project with you and they will give you an illustrated talk about salmon, your hatchery and the salmon eggs! Once you have the eggs you will be left in charge!
March / April
Your salmon will now be ready for release in a local burn. If you are lucky you may also have a trip to visit other hatcheries, fish farms, smokehouses or just examine the river system in more detail.
May
The salmon will be growing in the burn.
June
With experts you will watch electrofishing taking place. This will capture and allow you to examine your salmon you released months ago and any other fish present in the water.
When does the project start?
One of the most important things to remember is that the whole process of the salmon lifecycle has started well before you get involved. So it could be said the project started before Christmas.
Wild salmon will have spawned naturally in rivers and burns in the autumn.
Hatchery managers and fishery biologists will have started collecting adult salmon in the autumn just before they spawn. These fish are known as broodstock and are held in large tanks until they are ready to strip. Stripping is the name given to the process when somebody removes, by hand, the eggs (from female fish) and milt (from male fish). Click here to see video clip of salmon being stripped. The female is stripped when her egg sac begins to break down and the eggs inside her become mobile and loose. When she is ready, it is possible to lift her carefully out of the water and by applying a gentle pressure to her belly the eggs can be squeezed out of her vent and into a dry bucket.
Once all of her eggs are removed, she can be returned to the water. Immediately after being stripped, her belly will be all saggy which is not surprising when you remember she may have had thousands of eggs inside her just minutes before! A male is then stripped in a similar fashion to collect milt for fertilising the eggs. The eggs and milt are then mixed together and water added. It is only when the water is present that fertilisation will take place. The eggs are then washed thoroughly before being transported to the hatchery.
In the hatchery the eggs are laid down on grids in troughs. Click here to see a video clip of eggs being laid down in a hatchery. These troughs are covered to keep the eggs in the dark. For the eggs to survive they also require well oxygenated clean water to flow round. When these eggs are first placed down they are known as green eggs and will die if moved. After a few months of development, the fishes eyes become visible inside the egg - at this stage they are known as eyed eggs and can safely be moved without doing them harm. It is now that they are close to hatching and can be transported safely to your school!
It is only when the eggs in the main hatchery are eyed up that the project can start in earnest within your school. This date will vary around Scotland and is dependent on water temperatures in the hatchery - the colder it is the later it will be. In most cases the eggs are ready to be given to you at some point between late January and the start of March. You may start the project before the eggs arrive by being given a talk from an expert or investigating about salmon yourselves.