Twenty students from 13 Bristol Bay communities attended one of the three Salmon Camp sessions scheduled for students in grades six through eleven in 2008. Salmon Camp is a hands on learning experience offered to students throughout the Bristol Bay region.

Students attending the 6th grade camp came from King Salmon, Koliganek, Igiugig, Ekwok and Dillingham. They learned the basic salmon life history, toured the operations at Peter Pan Seafoods in Dillingham, tied flies and learned to fly fish, and collected and analyzed macro invertebrates. Camp was fast and fun leaving students with a new found respect for salmon as a commercial, sport and subsistence resource.

Manokotak, Koliganek, Kokhanok, Port Heiden and Dillingham students attended the 7th/8th grade camp. They gained an appreciation for how Bristol Bay salmon use is managed by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G). They captured, tagged and tracked salmon, spent a day with FRI on a spawning stream as well as a day at the Togiak Tower counting and sampling fish. BBNA and ADF&G Subsistence Division gave a presentation on their data collection and analysis methods. Students gave poster board presentations in the BBEDC board room explaining various aspects of a specific salmon species and Bristol Bay drainage.

The high school camp was again taught by Dr. Raddenbaugh from the UAF Bristol Bay Campus. Students from Togiak, Aleknagik and Manokotak received one college credit for the ecology course that involved comparing salmon spawning streams on Lake Aleknagik by observing water quality, stream substrates and biology.

Contact Pearl Strub at BBEDC for more information.