Department of Fish and Game
salmon egg

Classroom Aquarium Education Program (CAEP)

For information, contact the regional CAEP representative in your area:

Northern California - North Coast Region
Chris Ramsey (707) 725-1027 cramsey@dfg.ca.gov
(includes counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity)

North Central Region
 Meg Grow (916) 358-2884 mgrow@dfg.ca.gov
(includes counties of Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba)

Bay Delta Region
Ethan Rotman (415) 892-0460 erotman@dfg.ca.gov
(includes counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma)

Central Region
 Gail Davis (209) 853-2533 ext. 8#
gdavis@dfg.ca.gov
(includes counties of Kern, Kings, Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Tuolumne)

South Coast Region
 Dwayne Maxwell (562) 342-7152 dmaxwell@dfg.ca.gov
(includes counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura)

Inland Deserts Region
 Raul Rodriguez (909) 484-0523 rrodriguez@dfg.ca.gov
(includes counties of Imperial, Inyo, Mono, Riverside, and San Bernardino)

Richard Louv is the author of seven books about family, nature, and community, including Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Read his toughts on the Classroom Aquarium Education Program. (PDF)

Hatching Stewardship - an article about hatching fish in classrooms (PDF)

screenshot of video featuring trout in the classroom project at Lafayette Elementary School

Watch a video featuring a Trout in the Classroom project at Lafayette Elementary School (hosted by YouTube.com).

This program has also been known as Salmonids in the Classroom, Trout in the Classroom, Steelhead in the Classroom, Salmon and Trout Education Program.

Through a classroom experience of hatching fish eggs and coordinated activities, students experience first-hand the value of aquatic environments, the balance that must be met to maintain and preserve California's fisheries and aquatic habitats, and how their personal actions affect these valuable resources.

Instructors and their students set up an aquarium in the classroom, receive fish eggs under a special Department of Fish and Game permit, and observe the fish as they hatch and develop. The experience may culminate in a field trip to a local stream or river where the fish are released. This is a hands-on, interdisciplinary project for grades K-12.

The Classroom Aquarium Education Project is offered statewide in partnership with regionally-based community organizations. While the program has several names around the state, the essential learning elements and student experiences are similar. The prerequisite training workshops are held at locations throughout the state. Completion of a training workshop is required to receive eggs. Teacher training workshops are offered at least once a year in each region.