The Salmon
Salmon Heading Upstream
Salmon
Sleek, silver and mottled adventurers
Returning upstream to spawn-
Fresh waters calling from the ocean depths
“Go home to where you were born!”
No animal is more at the heart of the Pacific Northwest than the salmon. For centuries before the coming of the white explorers, the Native Americans honored the salmon as their renewable food source. The return of the salmon to their spawning streams was a time of great celebration, just as was the first catch of the New Year. Salmon were smoked and dried for storage. Their skins were used for pouches and bags. Bones became tools such as needles or combs. Their slow move toward extinction has prompted environmental outcry in how we humans are failing to care properly for the lands that surround their habitat. At some level, we sense that our own lives are tied to theirs.
The salmon are born in fresh water, live out their adult lives in the salt waters and then return to the fresh water to spawn. Some 90% of those that return to their fresh water streams of origin will die in the process. A few manage several cycles before they expire. The term for this type of fresh to salt water to fresh existence is anadromous. Salmons that are native to the Pacific Northwest include the popular Chinook or King Salmon, Coho or Silver salmon, Sockeye, Steelhead salmon or trout and less tasty varieties such as the Humpies and Chum. The roe or fish eggs are bright orange and are often used as bait by fishermen. The Chinook is the largest of the species and can weigh over 30 lbs. Scientists can see the age of the salmon by the rings that they acquire as they grow large ones for the summers and shorter ones for the winters.
“When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon who lays 3,000,000 eggs, but no one remembers her on Mother’s Day.” Sam Ewing
content.lib.washington.edu/salmonweb/index.html
www.idahoforests.org/critter1.htm
Sleek, silver and mottled adventurers
Returning upstream to spawn-
Fresh waters calling from the ocean depths
“Go home to where you were born!”
No animal is more at the heart of the Pacific Northwest than the salmon. For centuries before the coming of the white explorers, the Native Americans honored the salmon as their renewable food source. The return of the salmon to their spawning streams was a time of great celebration, just as was the first catch of the New Year. Salmon were smoked and dried for storage. Their skins were used for pouches and bags. Bones became tools such as needles or combs. Their slow move toward extinction has prompted environmental outcry in how we humans are failing to care properly for the lands that surround their habitat. At some level, we sense that our own lives are tied to theirs.
The salmon are born in fresh water, live out their adult lives in the salt waters and then return to the fresh water to spawn. Some 90% of those that return to their fresh water streams of origin will die in the process. A few manage several cycles before they expire. The term for this type of fresh to salt water to fresh existence is anadromous. Salmons that are native to the Pacific Northwest include the popular Chinook or King Salmon, Coho or Silver salmon, Sockeye, Steelhead salmon or trout and less tasty varieties such as the Humpies and Chum. The roe or fish eggs are bright orange and are often used as bait by fishermen. The Chinook is the largest of the species and can weigh over 30 lbs. Scientists can see the age of the salmon by the rings that they acquire as they grow large ones for the summers and shorter ones for the winters.
“When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon who lays 3,000,000 eggs, but no one remembers her on Mother’s Day.” Sam Ewing
content.lib.washington.edu/salmonweb/index.html
www.idahoforests.org/critter1.htm
