SHARPTOWN, Md. - A day fishing on the Nanticoke River near Sharptown to many may be the perfect way to end a work week.
But for A.P. Environmental Science students from James M. Bennett High School in Salisbury, Friday's fishing was a practical application of their coursework as they helped the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fight invasive fish species.
"I know a lot of other people that fish for fun and they find a lot of invasive species and they get rid of them," said Casey McLaughlin, a junior at Bennett. "So as a joint community, everyone's doing their part by catching them and getting rid of them."
The fishing target of the day was northern snakehead and blue catfish, both invasive species on Delmarva that are crowding out native species because they have no natural predators - except humans.
"Being self-sustainable and eating locally. So you're helping the environment, you're removing invasives from from the area, and you're eating them, it's a very natural thing," said Chelsea Miller of the Maryland DNR.
Fishing is one way to get rid of the fish, and the Maryland DNR is hoping to encourage more folks to catch the fish - and then eat them.
After catching snakeheads and catfish, the students then learned how to filet and cook them - which became their lunch.
Bennett junior Addy McCutcheon enjoyed actually seeing their classroom knowledge applied in a real-world context to solve real-world problems.
"It feels good especially now that I know what I'm looking at and talking about," McCutcheon said. "Through the whole term, we learned about pH levels, and nitrogen levels, and now we're actually testing them in the water and I can actually understand."