The Black River in South Haven has been stocked with about 200 salmon fingerlings thanks to the Rotary Club of South Haven and North Shore Elementary School.

The Rotary’s Tom Renner tells us the club has teamed up with the fourth and fifth grade classes at the school for about five years now to release the salmon into the river. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources provided about 100 larvae to each class earlier in the year so the kids could watch them grow into fingerlings large enough for planting.

On Wednesday, the two classes and Rotary volunteers released the fingerlings.

“Rotarians, with the teachers, have a bucket with all of the fingerlings in them and then they each get a paper cup and dip into the bucket and get a fingerling and walk down to the shore of the river,” Renner said. “It’s the fingerlings’ first introduction to the river water, so it’s kind of fun. They appear dormant at first, and all of a sudden the fish realize, ‘Hey, I’m free,’ and away they go.”

Renner says the program, done in partnership with the South Haven Steelheaders, is a great way for the students to learn all about the life cycles of fish. Plus, the kids have a lot of fun releasing the fingerlings.

Hopefully, in years to come the fingerlings will grow into 20-pound-plus salmon that ply the waters of Lake Michigan to wind up being caught by fishermen.