The Miraculous Cycle of Salmon

Fish are perhaps the least respected animals on the planet and many are the keystone species of their ecosystem.  For the Pacific Northwest, salmon truly are the backbone of the coast and yet they continue to struggle for survival.  Every natural resource industry, tourism operation, aquaculture business, commercial fisherman, environmentalist, scientist and sports-fisherman will blame the other for the salmon run decline, but we all have a bigger impact than imagined and can make a difference to increase their numbers and repair their spawning grounds.

I’ve seen first hand what sporty-boats can do on a run of coho salmon waiting to go into our local rivers.  Not one coho was counted in our neighborhood creek with our community, stream walking program last year, sadly, due mostly to the sport fishermen caught in the frenzy of being able to hook a fish within two minutes of setting the line, in a season where only one wild coho was the legal catch limit.

Like the revolutionary, controversial book, The Secret Lives of Plants,  in which plants’ unfathomable abilities to sense, connect and respond to humans and other organisms was scientifically documented in 1973, but never reached mainstream thinking, Victoria Braithwaites’s book, Do Fish Feel Pain received the same outcry from industry about the truth, that fish exhibit enough of the same pain receptors and responses as other species we have deemed sentient beings, like dogs and cats, and should have the same rights given to them as well. Both books unfortunately have yet to have a major impact on the way humanity sees, feels and responds to our connection with all life.

This video is a tribute to the miraculous life cycle of salmon and the amazing work my tiny community has done to bring back the salmon in our area from record low numbers…

(Please click on the title at the top to view the video)

To learn more about our connection to salmon click on the article links below:

Hakai Institute Magazine article:  Salmon Trees

Salmon don’t grow on trees, but trees grow on salmon article