Eels in the Classroom

This two-year project, supported by BAE Systems and United Utilities has now come to an end, well, nearly…..

Fitting alongside some practical delivery work in the Barrow and Furness area to improve fish migration, the project was set up to give four schools an amazing opportunity to learn about a critically endangered species, the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and about our rivers too.

We took advice from other river trusts and the Sustainable Eel Group (SEG) about equipment, set up, resources, troubleshooting, release permits and health checks but it didn’t prepare us for the rollercoaster ride of being responsible for these incredible little fish.

The first year we thought went quite well.

A tank was set up in each school for the Year 5s to look after and a presentation to find out all about eels, their migration and life cycle and a couple of weeks later the eels were collected from Gloucester and taken to the schools.

Pennington Primary School and St Paul’s Primary School did a great job of looking after around 50 little elvers each with children taking it in turns to feed them and the teachers cleaning the tanks out. Welfare checks were carried out and we kept in regular touch with the class teachers. There were some teething issues, some eel mortalities but the teachers and classes embraced the project wholeheartedly.

After 5 weeks it was time to release them into nearby becks. The classes spent some time exploring the becks beforehand, learning about invertebrates and food chains, then the eels released. It was when we were back at the first school that we discovered that elvers have a superpower of being able to squeeze through tiny spaces and up into the external filter box, with around 15 surviving quite happily. It was the same in the second school too, but all made it out into the becks.

The Year 5 class from St Paul’s Junior School made a video about the project which can be viewed on the SCRT Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SouthCumbriaRiversTrust

So we looked forward to the second year of the project.

Two new schools; Parkside Academy and St James’s Junior School and learning from the slippery little elvers of last year we made sure we fitted filter covers when we set up the tanks. Due to circumstances beyond our control the eels couldn’t be collected until the first week in May, so just three and a half weeks for the schools this time.

Disaster struck! Unfortunately St James’ JS, lost most of their eels over the first weekend, however the remaining made it to the end of term. We couldn’t work out what had happened as the school had done everything as they should. The Parkside eels thrived, with very few lost.

A pause on release! Two days before we were due to release the eels, we heard from SEG that we couldn’t go ahead. The Environment Agency (EA) who issue the release permits and check health checks had detected anguilla herpesvirus in the area the eels had come from. According to EA records, Cumbria was free of the disease so we obviously couldn’t release our elvers just in case they had the virus. We still took the classes out to explore the becks, look for invertebrates and learning lots about rivers.

Eels in the Office

As half term was imminent, we took the decision to set up a tank in our office and look after the elvers until we could release them.

Eels in the Classroom, a brilliant and worthwhile project, even if a little stressful at times. It brought together learning and understanding about the importance of water for life, healthy river systems and healthy catchments. It provided an opportunity for children to look after eels in a tank, be responsible for feeding and cleaning, and will serve as a great memory prompt for future.