….for salmon…..
Today was a very good day. Not the getting up at 4:15am part, that I could have done without, but the rest of it was very good. The ferry ride was dark and bumpy and I spent most of it curled up in my rental car researching the person I and someone I work with were going to meet, a young journalist interested in salmon.
By the time I finished reading some of his work I’d come to the conclusion that the meeting wasn’t going to produce any really challenging questions of any political nature. His writing, while very good, seemed to be all over the map where topics are concerned, and virtually none of it was fish focused.
When I got to the site it “almost” felt like a normal year. The crew was all out working the brailer and sorting fish, and when they saw me walking towards them there were waves and smiles and hellos. It felt nice to have that “almost” normal feeling for a bit.
And it was a gorgeous sunny day. Perfect to walk a site for a hatchery tour.
When the fellow we were meeting arrived I found out why his work wasn’t fish focused; the last time he’d visited a salmon hatchery was when he was in high school. His questions were far more down to earth than we’d expected and it was a fun hour and a half teaching him about salmon; different species, different stocks, different life histories, how hatcheries in BC operate and the different roles they fill, the stocks in this particular river and the challenges they have navigated and how the hatchery has helped restore some of the stocks to levels they haven’t been in decades, and so on. It was fun and we got to talk about the things we love – salmon, and his questions were borne of genuine interest.
Three species of salmon can be found together in the Puntledge River at this time of year. In the front is a chum salmon, covered in naturally occurring fungus that has a tendency to accumulate when the adults return to freshwater. In behind are Chinook and a couple of coho.
Because they are putting all of their energy into gamete production, other systems that are less important at this stage of life, like the immune systme, are downregulated.
It becomes a race against time at the end of their days; spawn before being eaten or before dying of wounds sustained during migration, or freshwater fungal growth.
They look horrible, but it’s all part of a natural progression.
After we were finished and he’d run out of questions and left for home, the day improved yet again; a short visit with a former manager, followed by lunch for three…only the fourth time I’ve been out for a meal since March.
And then, to round out a perfect day, I made the earlier ferry by a hair. I hadn’t thought I had a hope of making the 3:20 ferry home and even called someone on the way back down to Nanaimo to see if there might be an opportunity for a visit. Nope. I had a few thoughts of just pulling off somewhere and going for a walk on a beach….but I had to try…
And I made it to the ferry gate with about two minutes to spare…and drove straight onto the boat…didn’t even have to stop in a lane…perfect, and it meant that I could get the rental car back before the office closed and not have to pay for the extra day 🙂
There’s a rumour that I drive a little quickly……it’s just a rumour….
Long day, great day.