The Fish Patchery Again

While Hannah was in school Rachel, Nana and I went to the fish hatchery because the ladder was scheduled to be open. Here are the workers wading in the holding tanks. They catch a fish with their hands and then club them on the head with a "special tool" (looks like a mini bat to me).

After "milking/harvesting" the fish (collecting their sperm/eggs) they send them through a machine that detects any electronic chips that may have been implanted in their heads. This helps them keep track of numbers and migration. They end up in this large bin and get shipped off to the food bank.

There was a wonderful docent there that day. He was very enthusiastic about teaching all the kids who were there on field trips. It was fun for us, too. If you can't tell, the fish he is holding is bigger than Rachel. It's hard to imagine them being even bigger in the ocean (they lose most of their weight on their journey back to our creek).

Rachel was very interested in the fish. She even touched them.

Here is a video of a male salmon being milked. The school kids had eggs in their hands and wanted to fertilize the eggs.

And here is a video of a live female having her eggs harvested.

OK. I know there has been a lot of fishy posts lately, but I think this will be the last one for awhile. Hooray for salmon days!