Monday, January 08, 2007

Adams Salmon Run: A Family Tradition

Community: Upper Fraser

To continue a family tradition, my parents brought us to see the Adams salmon run. They wanted us to experience the amazing view as they did when they were our age.

Both my parents grew up in this area so they had many field trips to this Adams salmon run, and they both loved it.  They like it so much they insisted on bringing us to see it: and they were right! It is absolutely amazing!

I loved learning about the inside of the salmon, and seeing the differences between a male and female salmon. It was very interesting to see the color change between a fish that is still laying eggs and one that is finished.

What an amazing thing size difference between a salmon egg and when they are fully grown. They most interesting thing I have learnt here so far was that the salmon do not eat after they leave the ocean—they travel 500 km without eating at all! So when they die their stomachs are completely empty!

Submitted by Alysha Perkins, Chilliwack, BC


Posted by Aileen Penner on 1/8/07

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At 10:23 am on 2/27/07, Victor Guerin said:

Regarding the fact that the salmon cease to feed upon entering fresh water.  When my dad was still working, one of his coworkers was our relative from upriver.  On occasion they would each bring salmon to work and share it with coworkers. 

The first time my dad mentioned it to me, he said that he didn’t care for the salmon that our relative brought because it was too dry. 

I wasn’t surprised by this at all, but, later, I was surprised after my dad shared some salmon at work.  My dad reported back that our relative didn’t like the salmon my dad shared because it was too rich for him!

Of course, the difference is that, due to the cessation if feeding by the salmon, their bodies, at first, begin to consume fat stores in order to survive.  Later, when fat stores become depleted, they begin to consume less crucial body tissues. 

And, so, the physical composition of their flesh is gradually altered as they progress further upstream resulting in a different flavour at the dinner table dependent on how far upstream the fish are caught.

This illustrates one way that cultural preferences and differences develop due to geographic proximity to a particular resource.

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At 10:17 pm on 3/08/07, Travis said:

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