Tony Brady deminstrates to the teachers how glochidia are harvested from gravid female mussels. Photo by Jennifer Seydel (ELS)

Genoa National Fish Hatchery, like many other hatcheries, has been hosting kids fishing events for several years.  In addition to fishing events, Genoa NFH hosts outreach exhibits at fairs and in school classrooms, and provides tours of the hatchery.  These events give the hatchery staff a single opportunity to introduce each group of kids to nature.   

In 2008, Genoa NFH  added an additional angle to their outreach arsenal.   This new angle is to educate educators about the work performed, animals cultured, and conservation efforts that are being conducted by the hatchery. 

On June 12, mussel biologist Tony Brady was invited by the Expeditionary Learning Schools (ELS) Outward Bound’s Midwest office, located in Dubuque, Iowa to give a presentation on mussel reproductive biology and the art and science of culturing mussels.  Expeditionary Learning Schools work to “instill a positive school culture while promoting rigorous and engaging curriculum; active, inquiry-based teaching; and a school culture that demands and teaches compassion and good citizenship.”  Currently there are about 150 EL schools located in 30 states.  Teachers from seven states as far away as New York attended the mussel workshop. 

As the hatchery is in the middle of its propagation efforts, Brady was able to show and tell the teachers about every life stage mussels undergo in their lifetime.  The presentation included a gravid female fatmucket mussel that was willing to show off her fish attracting lure, while another gravid female was used to harvest the larval stage (glochidia).  Largemouth bass from the hatchery were then used to demonstrate how the hatchery inoculates mass numbers of fish for their production efforts each spring.  A newly transformed mussel was active under the microscope for the class to see its unique foot movements. 

To top off the day, three-year-old sub-adults of three species cultured by the hatchery were passed around for the class to get an up close look at the animals they were studying.  Armed with this unique experience, these teachers will be able to reach classroom after classroom with mussel knowledge and conservation efforts to save an endangered species that will inspire the next generation of conservationists.