| President's Message | 2004 Symposium | ASERP | | January Planning Meeting | Vernal Pools | Upcoming Events |
	ASERP by Mike Young For the fifth year, WRWA is involved in providing equipment and/or technical support to local schools participating in the Atlantic Salmon Egg Rearing Program (ASERP). In addition to the three public schools that participated in the program last year (South Middle School in Westfield, Memorial Elementary School in West Springfield, and Gateway Regional Middle School in Huntington), we've added the Powder Mill Middle School in Southwick this year. The participating teachers and liaisons attended a full-day workshop on January 13, held this year at Greenfield Community College, and approximately 300 eyed-up salmon eggs will be delivered to each school by the middle of February. Teachers and students control the rate at which the eggs and fry develop by controlling the temperature in the 29-30 gallon aquarium tanks where the salmon live until they're stocked into local streams in May. Initially, tank temperatures are typically in the 30s, but as the release date nears the tank temperature is gradually raised to match the temperature of the stream in which the fry will be released. Most schools have been feeding the young salmon brine shrimp for several weeks before the release - the trick is to keep the tank temperature low enough that the fry won't need to feed until after the April vacation week! Last year several WRWA volunteers helped with the releases, including assistance with environmental surveys at the release sites. Let me know if you'd be interested in helping this year - it's a great way to help.