Students’ salmon will go to food bank

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Weighing in at 1,300 pounds, 650 salmon raised by students at a Bellingham college are going to feed the hungry.

The Bellingham Herald reports that the salmon bounty is being donated by the Bellingham Technical College to the Bellingham Food Bank as part of a longstanding partnership.

The students raised the chum salmon at the college’s fisheries technology program. Hatchery manager and instructor Earl Steele said it feels good to know that the fish are going to people in need.

Food bank Executive Director Mike Cohen said the donation couldn’t have come at a better time. The bank broke its record, set in 2009, of people served. The bank had 102,000 clients in 2009.

The donation is also coordinated through Bornstein Seafoods and Sea-Share, a national nonprofit that facilitates donations from the seafood industry to food banks.