Jon Taylor with pupils at Gladstone Junior School, Barry.

The Salmon Homecoming Project has been run for a number of years now and it has proven to be a huge success with the schools participating.   This year, thanks to the generosity of Environment Agency Wales and the unstinting support of the South East Wales Rivers Trust it has been offered to 10 junior schools within the Trust’s  area.
The schools are Ysgol Y Graig Junior School, Cefn Coed; Caedraw Junior School; Twynyrodyn Community Junior School –all at Merthyr Tydfil; Gladstone Junior School, Barry; Lakeside Primary School, Cardiff; Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff; Abertillery Primary School, Blaenau Gwent; Maesycwmmer Primary School, Hengoed; Sofrydd Primary School, Crumlin and Cwmdare Primary School, Cwmdare.
The schools were visited by members of the South East Wales Rivers Trust and they were given a power point presentation on the life cycle of the Atlantic salmon. At the end of the presentation the children were asked if they would help us by rearing approx 150 salmon eggs to be released into the River Taff.   Without hesitation each class enthusiastically agreed to do so.   All of the teachers at the schools were really enthusiastic to supervise the children to bring the egg rearing to a successful conclusion. 

John Coombs with pupils of Ysgol y Graig Junior School, Merthyr Tydfil.

Each school has been provided with a small aquarium tank, an air stone, an aerator and pump, safety sockets, thermometer, the metal tray and mesh for the eggs, a turkey baster to remove any dead eggs, freezer packs to keep the temperature between 10˚and 12˚C and all the necessary instructions to successfully complete the project.
The eggs were delivered the week after the February half term and all the participating schools were very excited to have them.   After three very tense weeks the first phone calls started to arrive: “our eggs have all disappeared”. Each school was told not to worry because the eggs had hatched into alevins and they were hiding in the mat at the bottom of the aquarium and that we would be around to collect the fish shortly.   Once the eggs were all hatched in all of the schools the volunteers arranged a day in which to collect them all and take them to the Environment Agency Wales hatchery at Cynrig near Brecon.   As the volunteers collected the alevins they presented the class with a certificate thanking the children for doing such a good job.   In May/June volunteers were due to return to the school with about 100 salmon fry for the children to release into the River Taff to complete the project.
We would like to thank Dr. John Taylor and all of the staff at Cynrig Hatchery for their help in enabling this project to go ahead and succeed.
The project has been a big success and the Environment Agency Wales has already indicated they will support us in doing the project again in 2011-2012.

Brian Walkley (left) and chairman Tony Rees with Sofrydd Primary School, Crumlin pupils.

The volunteers believe this project goes a long way to introducing children to the wonders of nature and we hope that they will value the benefits that a clean riverine environment brings to their area.
The Trust wishes to thank volunteers John Coombs, Brian Walkley, Bernard Farr, Jon Taylor, Mike Roberts, Dennis Baynham, Dave Roberts, Councillor Robin Woodyatt, Tony Rees, chairman, who were involved in running the project.