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	Atlantic Salmon Egg-Rearing Program (ASERP) by Mike Young, WRWA Education Chair For the fourth year WRWA is facilitating the participation of local schools in the Atlantic Salmon Egg-Rearing Program (ASERP). ASERP is an offshoot of state and federal agency projects designed to reintroduce Atlantic Salmon, and other fish species that were once abundant here, to the Connecticut River and its tributaries. Four sites are involved in the program this year: the South Middle School in Westfield (Jeff Collier), the Gateway Regional Middle School in Huntington (Carol Norris and Michelle Booth), the Memorial Elementary School in West Springfield (Elena Martin), and Westfield State College (Linda Pirek, Frank Giuliano, and Mike Young). WRWA provides the equipment for each of the K-12 schools, and provides some technical assistance at all four sites. The eggs, already "eyed-up", were picked up from the Reed Fish Hatchery in Palmer in mid-February by liaisons for each class. They were transported to the classrooms in 1-gallon coolers, filled with cold water, then transferred to their homes for the next few months: 29-30 gallon aquarium tanks chilled to temperatures in the upper 30s. The tanks have a layer of gravel on their bottoms, providing a "habitat" similar to the gravelly stream bottoms in which "wild" salmon eggs would find themselves. Insulation covers all sides of the tanks, minimizing the loss of heat to the surrounding room and providing darkness similar to iced-over natural streams. The eggs will be hatching in mid-late March, with the exact date dependent on the temperature at which the tanks are maintained. For several weeks after hatching, the fry will feed off their yolk sacs, but by mid-late April they'l need to be fed by students in each classroom. By the time of feeding, tank temperatures will have been gradually raised to around 50 F, roughly matching spring-time stream temperatures. Students will be raising brine shrimp ("sea monkeys") as salmon food, and will feed the fry for 2-3 weeks before releasing them into local streams. The fry grow into juvenile parr in their home streams, and after a year or two undergo physiological changes that prepare them for venturing into the saltwater of the Atlantic. As smolts they make the journey to western Greenland, spending a year or two in the ocean maturing before, hopefully, returning to their native streams to spawn. The return of the salmon to the Westfield River has long been blocked by the FiberMark dam in West Springfield, but in the mid-90s a fish ladder was constructed at the site, so fish passage is now possible. State biologists and volunteers have been trapping the returning fish, transporting the majority of them to a federal hatchery in White River Junction, VT, where they are milked for eggs or sperm ­ providing the supply of eggs from which the ASERP and state fry-stocking programs draw. Ten percent of the returning salmon are trucked around dams in Woronoco, Russell and Huntington and released in the upper Westfield to spawn naturally. If returns eventually exceed minimal levels, fish passage will be constructed at those other dams as well, and the Westfield will be truly open to salmon and other migratory fish. You can participate in the salmon restoration program by helping state biologists with fry stocking in late April or early May, or by volunteering to monitor the fishway in West Springfield during the migratory fish run this spring. The need for volunteers is especially strong this year, as current state funding for these activities is minimal. Contact Gabe Khatchadourian (568-3005) for information on fry stocking, or Henry Warchol (562-3467) for information on fishway monitoring.