NEWS

Friday, September 22, 2006

When the River Beckons, They Will Go

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Community: Upper Fraser

Maurice Bridge, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, September 22, 2006

Out in the salt chuck, along the edges of the silt-laden plume of the Fraser, the sockeye wait. Starting in August, about two million shimmering fish which hatched out of the gravel of the Adams River in the spring of 2003 congregate near the mouth of the river. They no longer feed, but flash restlessly through the waters of the southern end of the Strait of Georgia, waiting for the call.

Since the beginning of their migration down the Fraser in early 2003, they have grown from tiny smolts six or seven centimetres long to mature adults averaging about 6.6 kilograms. Feasting on plankton through the Gulf of Alaska, they have developed the succulent, red flesh prized by first nations since time immemorial, and subsequently by newcomers. Rich in oil and fat, it will sustain the sockeye in the weeks to come as they fight their way back to the spawning grounds. But they wait, sometimes as long as six weeks, for the unexplained and soundless signal that tells them when to start their journey so that they can be where they must be before they die.

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