Since the 1960’s, Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has been stocking the Great Lakes with Salmon to help combat invasive species, maintain a strong ecosystem in the Great Lakes, and enhance commercial and sporting fisheries. Over the years, the state has utilized hatcheries to help in maintaining adequate numbers of salmon in the Upper and Lower Great Lakes. However, due to the economy and budget cuts, many hatcheries have been closed or have had to limit their operations leading to a decreased number in released salmon.

To help increase the number of released salmon, the MDNR developed a program called “Salmon in the Classroom”. This exciting program teaches students about Michigan’s freshwater resources through interactive, hands-on learning. This interactive experience provides students the opportunity to raise, care for and maintain salmon in their classroom from fall until spring. At the end of the school year, the program ends with the students releasing their salmon into a local watershed that feeds into the Great Lakes. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at one of the schools enrolled in this program. Mr. Jeff Byant’s science classes at East Rockford Middle School, in Rockford, Michigan are participating in this program for the first time. Since I live in the area, I thought it would be a great opportunity to present what I knew, as a diver, about the Great Lakes and the creatures that live in them. The students were excited to learn more about how salmon made it to the Upper Great Lakes, their life cycle, and how they find their way back to the same stream they were hatched. Other sections of my presentation included a discussion on invasive species, and what the students could do to protect their local watersheds and the Great Lakes.

The students were most attentive as I presented footage from our most recent dive in the Boardman River, swimming with the salmon at the weir located in Traverse City, Michigan. The students were very interested in the information related to diving, as well as underwater photography, and videography. They had the opportunity to view and pass around diving equipment, as well as some underwater video equipment. At the end of my presentation, they were given the opportunity to ask questions. I was excited that most of the questions related to diving and how they could become divers themselves.

It is opportunities like this that we must embrace as divers. These opportunities allow us to be more than divers; we become stewards of our environment and local waterways, as well as role models for the future generations of divers.