A population of fish commonly found in the Chesapeake Bay is slowly declining, but they are on the road to restoration because of some local students.
Around 4,000 students from more than 50 schools in the area have released their classroom-grown American Shad fish into the Anacostia River.
"When they're small, they're microscopic," said student Jeremy Daniel
"It's silver. It's about that big and it basically looks like a fish," said Brian Wilson, Living Classrooms Outreach Educator.
Finding the breed in the wild is becoming harder, because of pollution and over-fishing. So the Living Classrooms Foundation partnered with schools in the area to boost the population.
"We've been testing the water and taking the dead eggs, separating them," said student Mira Willson.
Teacher Molly Simms said, "We prepare the water a week in advance before we actually receive the eggs."
It takes just a few days for them to hatch and when they do, they need to be released.
Shad breed in fresh water so that's why they were released into the Anacostia River. In a few months, they'll mature and eventually end up in the Chesapeake Bay before going out into the Atlantic Ocean.
On Friday, thousands of students said goodbye to their shad fish.
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