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Sockeye salmon shoot up the rapids and flip in
midair. I see their mirror-bright sides catch and scatter the
sun. Propelled by instinct, they return to their birthplace to
spawn. Commercial fishermen caught 90 percent of these
fish’s mates even before the salmon began their odyssey up
British Columbia’s Fraser River. The ones left have beaten
the odds so far. But their journey isn’t over, as I found out
many years ago on an early assignment for the Geographic.
I watch as 13-year-old Gordon Alec (above), of the Lillooet
tribe, dips his net in the rapids and pirouettes to his left
with a captured fish. The ritual of netting salmon is Gordon’s
ancestral legacy. Drying racks line the Fraser’s banks. Young
and old camp out under the summer sky and celebrate the
catch. But regret is expressed too, as elders recount how
diminished the run has become in their lifetime.
This month, writer David Quammen and photographer Randy Olson take us to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Salmon runs are still huge and healthy there. It’s a rugged landscape, where at least 20 percent of all Pacific wild salmon go to spawn. “Salmon heaven,” Quammen calls it. But this salmon heaven is threatened. It’s the same story many fi sheries face. The direction this narrative takes— whether someday Kamchatka’s salmon runs will be spoken of with regret—will be determined by management decisions made in the next few decades. “At present,” says Quammen, “the situation is fluid.”
Photo: Chris Johns, National Geographic Stock
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Comments
Jul 15, 2009 9AM #
many things are changing chris as we keep on infecting the planet,i only wonder what my grandchildren will see of wildlife in their time.
Jul 15, 2009 9AM #
Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest has helped me over the years to understand why things are the way they are. If humans didn't hunt and fish we would not be able to survive, even if we do have commercial farming and stock. The question is: do we want to risk the health of our land and rivers for a full belly at the end of the day? Most people live day by day, some becuase they have to and others because they want to, but what of our tomorrows? I am of only 18 and I am not looking forward to seeing species of living things become extinct during my lifetime, I only hope Darwin's theory of evolution will reverse and help bring some species back to life.
Jul 15, 2009 9AM #
does anyone know the Lillooet name for this type of net?
Jul 15, 2009 9AM #
I have just returned from a three-week trek in Kamchatka and have seen and heard the stories of the salmon being wiped out in the rivers of the region.
My guide had just returned with a group which had been fishing and he had to travel two days from the capital Petropavlovsk to find a well stocked river.
The damage is happening alarmingly fast and something needs to be done very soon if it is to be checked.
Jul 15, 2009 9AM #
The plight of the wild horses in America on their way to extinction.
http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/the-theft-of-an-american-icon/
Currently rogue BLM is removing 90% of our mustangs, some are shot, some are going to slaughter, some just suffer pure hell at the hands of an agency gone amok.
Isn't it time this was told to America ?
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