The pinks are running
24/08/21 01:58
I’m still learning the seasons of the place to which we have moved. Last night we took a walk along the Skagit River and discovered that the pink salmon are running. A year ago we were so preoccupied with selling our home in Rapid City, finding a place to rent in Mount Vernon and getting our household moved from one place to the other that we didn’t notice the incredible natural phenomenon that is part of this place. But the locals say that even-numbered years aren’t the years for the pinks anyway. The largest numbers of fish swimming up the river occur only every-other year and 2021 is forecast to be a much larger run than 2020.
The river is at its lowest point since we have been paying attention, more than 12 feet below where we observed the water flowing during the winter. As we walked along, we saw dozens of people fishing from the bank and a half dozen boats with folks fishing the middle of the stream. They were catching fish, too. The limit right now on the Skagit River is four fish, pink salmon only. Any Chinook or Chum caught must be released. One person observing the fishing from the walking path said that he had seen people catch their limit in just a few minutes. According to one website, the run is estimated at 2.9 million this year, down from the recent 10-year-average of 4 million. That number, however, is up from a couple of decades ago, before the run began what is now being labeled as an historic recovery.
Pink salmon are anadromous. That means they hatch in freshwater streams and rivers and then migrate out to the saltwater environment of the ocean to feed and grow. Unlike coho, Chinook, or sockeye salmon, pink salmon do not spend much time in fresh water. The fry migrate directly to the saltwater of the river’s mouth and the open ocean as soon as they are hatched. They typically spawn at the age of 2, which means that there are two populations, the even-year population and the odd-year population. Up in Alaska, they don’t see much of a variation in the size of the run between even and odd years, but down here, there is a big difference.
Human fishers are not the only predators of the salmon as they head toward their spawning grounds. Sharks, other fish, including other types of salmon, seabirds and humpback whales feed upon the salmon. The birds are most effective at catching the fry as they head out. Adults returning to spawn are mostly caught by larger animals, including bears which line the rivers in some places waiting for the feast.
The indigenous people of the area considered the salmon to be sacred in a very similar way to the plains tribes’ reverence for buffalo. There are special rules for traditional indigenous fishers and some tribal areas are closed to fishing by non-indigenous people.
For now, the fish are back in the river and folk will be catching them until about the middle of October. It is a season of bounty and harvest.
I’m not much of a fisherman. When we were kids, we loved trout fishing in the river next to our home. We all fished and we had a good deal of success. August would be a time of regular fish fries at our home - a time when we ate quite a bit of fish as the freezer ran low on deer and antelope, which would be replenished later in the fall by Thanksgiving time. I caught my share of trout, but was never the fisherman that my father or my youngest brother have been. For this year, I’ll be leaving the salmon fishing to others as I don’t have the time or energy to learn a new skill right now. One thing that is good is that when I buy fresh salmon in the market, I know that it is really fresh and that it has come from an area where sustainable fishing practices are being followed and the population is recovering. There may not be as many salmon next year, but the following year promises to be another good one and this year will produce enough for us to get a taste.
The truth is that we don’t live by the seasons as much as once was the case for all people. The amount of groceries in the pantry doesn’t vary from season to season like it did a century and more ago. We can purchase fresh produce year-round and there is always an abundant supply of fish and meat available in our local store. I may complain about the prices, but we have enough income to keep our pantry and our bellies full. With modern storage systems, I can eat apples all year round.
Having food available all year around is not the same as having fresh food. That still is seasonal. Right now, we have an unlimited supply of tomatoes, peppers, and beans from the farm gardens. We can still pick as many berries as we want and the apples are so plentiful that we don’t come close to harvesting all of them. Ripe plums require a trip to the back yard and a bit of stretching to reach up to the tree. We’re leaving the ones at the top for the birds. And fresh produce is a real treat. There is a pile of basil on the kitchen counter, harvested yesterday and bound for pesto, but there will be enough to add to my omelette this morning along with a few tomatoes.
As we discover how to live in our new home we are learning the seasons. We are far from settled. We are looking for a home to purchase and it is likely that we will settle nearer to the Nooksack River than the Skagit. it will have its own specific qualities. And we will learn its seasons just as we learned the seasons of the hills in South Dakota. We didn’t have any seasonal fish runs there. And here, we don’t need a snowblower. There are differences.
The river is at its lowest point since we have been paying attention, more than 12 feet below where we observed the water flowing during the winter. As we walked along, we saw dozens of people fishing from the bank and a half dozen boats with folks fishing the middle of the stream. They were catching fish, too. The limit right now on the Skagit River is four fish, pink salmon only. Any Chinook or Chum caught must be released. One person observing the fishing from the walking path said that he had seen people catch their limit in just a few minutes. According to one website, the run is estimated at 2.9 million this year, down from the recent 10-year-average of 4 million. That number, however, is up from a couple of decades ago, before the run began what is now being labeled as an historic recovery.
Pink salmon are anadromous. That means they hatch in freshwater streams and rivers and then migrate out to the saltwater environment of the ocean to feed and grow. Unlike coho, Chinook, or sockeye salmon, pink salmon do not spend much time in fresh water. The fry migrate directly to the saltwater of the river’s mouth and the open ocean as soon as they are hatched. They typically spawn at the age of 2, which means that there are two populations, the even-year population and the odd-year population. Up in Alaska, they don’t see much of a variation in the size of the run between even and odd years, but down here, there is a big difference.
Human fishers are not the only predators of the salmon as they head toward their spawning grounds. Sharks, other fish, including other types of salmon, seabirds and humpback whales feed upon the salmon. The birds are most effective at catching the fry as they head out. Adults returning to spawn are mostly caught by larger animals, including bears which line the rivers in some places waiting for the feast.
The indigenous people of the area considered the salmon to be sacred in a very similar way to the plains tribes’ reverence for buffalo. There are special rules for traditional indigenous fishers and some tribal areas are closed to fishing by non-indigenous people.
For now, the fish are back in the river and folk will be catching them until about the middle of October. It is a season of bounty and harvest.
I’m not much of a fisherman. When we were kids, we loved trout fishing in the river next to our home. We all fished and we had a good deal of success. August would be a time of regular fish fries at our home - a time when we ate quite a bit of fish as the freezer ran low on deer and antelope, which would be replenished later in the fall by Thanksgiving time. I caught my share of trout, but was never the fisherman that my father or my youngest brother have been. For this year, I’ll be leaving the salmon fishing to others as I don’t have the time or energy to learn a new skill right now. One thing that is good is that when I buy fresh salmon in the market, I know that it is really fresh and that it has come from an area where sustainable fishing practices are being followed and the population is recovering. There may not be as many salmon next year, but the following year promises to be another good one and this year will produce enough for us to get a taste.
The truth is that we don’t live by the seasons as much as once was the case for all people. The amount of groceries in the pantry doesn’t vary from season to season like it did a century and more ago. We can purchase fresh produce year-round and there is always an abundant supply of fish and meat available in our local store. I may complain about the prices, but we have enough income to keep our pantry and our bellies full. With modern storage systems, I can eat apples all year round.
Having food available all year around is not the same as having fresh food. That still is seasonal. Right now, we have an unlimited supply of tomatoes, peppers, and beans from the farm gardens. We can still pick as many berries as we want and the apples are so plentiful that we don’t come close to harvesting all of them. Ripe plums require a trip to the back yard and a bit of stretching to reach up to the tree. We’re leaving the ones at the top for the birds. And fresh produce is a real treat. There is a pile of basil on the kitchen counter, harvested yesterday and bound for pesto, but there will be enough to add to my omelette this morning along with a few tomatoes.
As we discover how to live in our new home we are learning the seasons. We are far from settled. We are looking for a home to purchase and it is likely that we will settle nearer to the Nooksack River than the Skagit. it will have its own specific qualities. And we will learn its seasons just as we learned the seasons of the hills in South Dakota. We didn’t have any seasonal fish runs there. And here, we don’t need a snowblower. There are differences.
