STORIES

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Missing Salmon

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By Michele

Community: Vancouver Island

We traveled to the Great Bear Rainforest this past July on our troller, exploring the many islands, inlets and fjords. At one location, we were fortunate enough to get a close look at a grizzly mother and cub. We were elated! Upwind, she stood to get a better look at us, and I immediately understood why so many First Nations refer to the bear as our brother. I also noted her skinny belly, showing hollows where there should have been fat. Our bear guide from Klemtu agreed that she was looking malnourished.

Silently, she took her cub and headed into the bush, where we gave her time to move on. After a while we scrambled along the water to our skiff, doing our best to avoid bothering her with another meeting. We came around the corner to find that she had only moved about 100 feet and was again happily feeding on sedges, her cub nearby. Unbeknownst to her, we sat and watched them from a rocky outcrop.

It was approaching dark and so we left with minds full of images, cameras full of pictures, and hearts full of mixed feelings. We felt honoured to be in the presence of this powerful spirit, yet we wondered about her future. We were told the salmon are not returning in enough quantity to feed the bears. They don’t get the protein needed to get them through the winter, resulting in bears that are malnourished into the following season.

So how does a malnourished mother give her a cub a healthy start? How does that cub develop over the years if it starts off with a lessened diet? How many years can that female survive a constant drain on her system?

The Great Bear Rainforest is truly one of the most natural places of its size left on our coast. But as with so many areas, the salmon are not returning as they used to. We talk about it, do restoration work, and talk about it some more, but really it’s a sighting like this that brings the urgency home.

Grizzly mother and cub feeding on sedges. Photo: M Deakin.