Their valuable scientific work notwithstanding, the members of Cathy Cox’s salmon-stocking expedition weren’t all business Wednesday when they arrived at Kenduskeag Stream.

Not even close.

Soccer balls bounced, baseballs flew and bagged lunches were eagerly unwrapped.

“It’s eating time!” one of the stocking party proclaimed after successfully releasing her fish into the stream.

Forgive them for having fun, but after a few months of raising Atlantic salmon from the egg stage into tiny (but frisky) fry, learning as much as they could about the species, its history, and the tradition of salmon angling in the Bangor area, a day afield was just what this group of sixth-graders needed.

And though each could tell you all you wanted to know about Atlantic salmon, these fledgling scientists from the James F. Doughty School in Bangor were, after all, sixth-graders.

“They’re so cuuuute,” one girl cooed, looking closely at her bag of salmon fry.

Cox, on the other hand, was busy trying to keep her pupils busy, on task, or out of mischief of one form or another.

“What did you do with the slug,” Cox asked one boy, not coincidentally just as lunchtime arrived. “It’s on the ground now? Good.”

Later, as a soccer game broke out, Cox noticed another potential hazard.

“No running with lollipops,” she warned. “That’s a big Miss Cox rule.”

Rest assured, her pupils did not run with lollipops. They did not try to feed slugs to their classmates. And they did emerge with a healthy understanding about salmon restoration efforts that often center on Bangor.

“We saw the whole lifecycle,” explained sixth-grader Joshua Elwood. “We studied why they [returned to the river] in lesser numbers and what helped them to come back.”

In addition, Elwood said conservation habits of anglers were discussed during the class study of salmon.

“We talked about the different types of fishermen, why they do it, and the catch-and-release law they still have,” Elwood said.

Elwood said if the Penobscot River does open for salmon angling in the future, as has been proposed, he can foresee a day when he might give the sport a try. But he wouldn’t forget the lessons he has learned this year.

“I might [fish for them], but I don’t think I’d take too many,” he said. “I’d remember this.”

Cox said the impetus for her class project, during which students help hatch the eggs, then release the fry in the spring, came when Jim Fahey was a substitute teacher at the school 10 or 12 years ago.

Fahey, now a game warden who was recently reassigned to the Bangor area after several years in Portage Lake, attended Wednesday’s field trip – the first time he’s been able to do so.

Fahey, who had done some summer work with the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, said he remembered talking about salmon with Cox’s class years ago.

“I had to teach them something that day, so I went over the fins, the anatomy of an Atlantic salmon,” he said. “The kids learned the names of the fins and they had a real interest in that, and I mentioned that to Cathy.”

When the duo heard about the salmon-fry stocking program, they contacted the Atlantic Salmon Federation … and Cox has been rearing fry ever since.

“I really think a lot of these kids start out not knowing anything that’s going to happen with these salmon, and they’re amazed at the number that don’t survive in the wild,” Cox said. “They’re very sad when we lose any, and we do lose some.”

Some. But not very many.

On Wednesday, the sixth-graders released 242 tiny fry into the Kenduskeag.

And each seemed to have learned their lesson well.

“[Before studying salmon] I didn’t know that they could come back every year and mate,” Emily Meucci said. “And they know exactly where, well, not exactly where, but close to where they [were introduced].”

Sixth-grader Meri Wicks said she learned the fish have a challenge ahead of them.

“They have to deal with the dams and there are usually predators. And pollution,” she said. “Since the pollution is greater, the water is getting warmer and that isn’t very good, because they search for cold water.”

Kami Prendergast said she learned about the tradition – now discontinued – of sending the first salmon of the season to the president. And she said the field trip was turning out to be a fun day … even after the fish were released.

“We stay here a little bit, play around, and see if [the fish] are doing OK,” Prendergast said.

Norm Dube, a fisheries scientist for the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, said the work classrooms across the state do each year is important in that it teaches a new generation of potential conservationists the value of a special species.

“It’s good to get the young kids involved in the salmon program, so once they get older, they’ll know all about Atlantic salmon, maybe they’ll even fish for Atlantic salmon, and become champions for Atlantic salmon,” Dube said.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.