COLUMN:
January 26, 2018
Contact: epratt@wlf.la.gov
The Livingston Parish News
COLUMN: Westside Junior High sixth graders get special lesson from Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
By: David Gray
WALKER — Biologist Megan MacMenamin held up the mounted speckled trout for all the sixth graders to see.
“Anybody have any idea how to tell how old a fish is?” she asked Alysha Guidry’s first-hour science class.
One student raised his hand and said “teeth.” A good guess, MacMenamin said, but not the answer.
Another student shouted “its tongue,” an “interesting” guess MacMenamin said she never heard, but still not the one she was looking for.
A third student said by the fish’s gills, and a fourth said by the its scales.
“Those are all really good guesses,” she said before pulling a small white chip from the back of the fish’s head. “We actually use the ear bones.”
Stunned silence.
“I knew nobody was gonna guess that — surprise,” she said as the class burst out in laughter.
That was just one of the lessons Guidry’s students at Westside Junior High received during class on Thursday, Jan. 25, when three representatives from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries visited to discuss career opportunities and explain their work in natural resource conservation.
The presentations ran from 7:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and were given by MacMenamin, fellow biologist Danielle Regitz, and LDWF press secretary Ed Pratt, who had to cancel an appearance at a career day event last November.
He made up for it in a big way Thursday.
“I know kids in sixth grade aren’t really thinking about jobs and career opportunities, but if we can spark something in them, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Pratt said.
The trio spoke to five of Guidry’s classes, and Pratt started each presentation by shedding light on the services Wildlife and Fisheries provides and how vital they are to Louisiana’s reputation as “The Sportsman’s Paradise.”
Pratt, a former newspaper editor, said there are 709,000 registered fishermen and fisherwomen in Louisiana — more than the populations of at least two states and almost as much as seven sold-out Tiger Stadiums.
During his talk, Pratt discussed the many career opportunities available at Wildlife and Fisheries, including but not limited to veterinarians, aircraft pilots, land specialists, student workers, marine operators, enforcement agents and wildlife/fisheries biologists.
Wildlife and Fisheries also offers several programs for youth and families to participate in covering cover an array of categories, such as rifle and shotgun shooting, archery, canoeing, fishing, compass reading, nature study hikes and camping.
MacMenamin, a fisheries biologist for four years, and Regitz, who began her career last October, took over after Pratt’s opening discussion and explained fishing regulations and how they are determined for each species of fish. They said that is accomplished by collecting data such as age, sex, reproductive rates, and length from fish across many bodies of water.
The goal, they said, is to make sure that these resources last for generations for come.
“We hope that when you’re kids grow up, there are just as many fish as there are today,” MacMenamin said. “Hopefully, that population stays healthy forever.”
One of the most important sources of information are the ear bones, or otoliths. Not only do the otoliths give fish a sense of balance in the water as well as hearing, MacMenamin and Regitz told students they provide an accurate age of the fish.
They explained that each year a fish lives, it lays down a layer — or a ring — of calcium on its ear bone, which grows larger each year. Each ring represents one winter and one summer in that fish’s life, a similar process to other material Guidry’s classes have covered.
“It’s just like trees,” shouted one excited student, referencing the age-defining rings on the inside of trees.
Students were given the opportunity to look at the ear bones through a microscope. The two biologists also show them a board with the otoliths of several fish species to show the varying shapes and sizes in different fish.
Near the end of the demonstrations, Regitz and MacMenamin passed around life cycle vials that showed the early stages of life for bass and paddlefish, with each vial containing a different-aged specimen.
It all made for what Guidry hopes will be a memorable science class.
“They’re going to take so much away from this,” Guidry said. “That’s why I wanted to do this. It’s going to stick with them for a long time.”
For the full article with video and photos, click here: https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/living/westside-junior-high-sixth-graders-get-special-lesson-from-louisiana/article_a634e9a0-0213-11e8-9533-b7ca885d53e0.html