Spawning Salmon: The Nutrients of Life

-

Did you know that there is much more than one type of salmon? To most people, a salmon is a salmon, but not in Alaska. In the 49th state, there’s King Salmon, Silver Salmon, Pink Salmon, Red Salmon, and Chum Salmon. Each salmon has its own physical characteristics, but to the untrained eye may look exactly the same. The prized possession is the King Salmon, the largest and best tasting meat. This Salmon is sought out from all over the world, especially the white king. There’s one stream in the entire world in which White King Salmon comes from, and the salmon is a genetic variation of the King Salmon. Silver Salmon are also highly prized for their delicious meat and size, but there are more Silver Salmon than King Salmon during fishing season. The most abundant species is the Pink Salmon, these species are often eaten by people living in the “Lower 48” but Alaskans avoid pinks and they’re often reserved for their pets.

 When salmon reach the end of their lives, they run, and then spawn, specifically in the summer months. If you look into an Alaskan river and see millions of salmon swimming upstream, you can assume these salmon are running. During the salmon run, they spawn. Spawning means releasing their gametes into the water so new salmon can be born. After spawning, all Alaskan salmon die, and the life cycle starts over again. To Alaskans and other observers, spawning salmon is one of the most beautiful things that happens on the planet.  To some people, it might be gruesome, but the spawning salmon give large quantities of life to the earth. As salmon die, they give birth to millions of new salmon, and the dead salmons’ bodies decompose directly into the soil. At this point, you can see millions of dead salmon floating downstream, for days and sometimes more than a week. These salmon wash all over on river banks, and some make it back to the mouth of the river.

 When all of these salmons’ nutrients are released back into the water and the soil, there is an explosion of fertility in the water and its surroundings. Fireweed grows taller and brighter. Berries grow at an astronomical rate with these nutrients, and then bears come near to water to join in! If you’ve ever seen bears catching salmon in a river, that's why the bears are attracted to the water! Grass becomes greener than ever, and marine life in the rivers and ocean explodes with nudibranchs and other species such as sea stars, sea jellies, sea cucumbers, and many others. In Alaska, the circle of life is one of the most beautiful things, and it’s very easy to observe while the salmon spawn. Spiritual Native Alaskans believe that the Salmon give up their lives to feed mother earth. The salmon, to them, have a greater purpose. Their bodies literally feed the planet, and allow for new life. The nutrients of life in Alaska are the salmon, if the salmon didn’t exist in Alaska, the entire ecosystem would look drastically different. It’s for this reason that projects such as the Pebble Mine must be opposed, because these projects wipe out the salmon species. Salmon are essential to the state of Alaska, and must be protected.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Utqiagvik: Life in the Midnight Sun and the Polar Night

-
Image
Imagine you lived in a place where the sun doesn’t set for two and a half months, what would you do with all the daylight? Would you spend time soaking in the sun? Go fishing? Now imagine living in a place where the sun doesn’t rise for two and a half months. Would you go insane from the darkness? What could you do outdoors with no daylight? Did you know that the further North and South one gets, the more drastic their summer and winter daylight hours are? If you lived on the equator, you would see almost exactly 12 hours of daylight everyday, year round.  Utqiagvik is the most northern town in Alaska, and even in all of North America. Utqiagvik isn’t the northernmost town in the world, that title is reserved for Svalbard’s Longyearbyen. However, Utquiagvik is only 1300 miles away from the North Pole. If there was a road, you could drive to the North Pole in under a day. Utqiagvik faces this climate every year. In the summer, the sun is above the horizon for two and a half m
Read more

Esk*** is a slur

-
Image
Eskimo is a commonly used word to describe ethnic peoples located in Alaska, Greenland, and other Arctic places. What many people don’t realize, is that the word is a slur. The word is considered derogatory to indigenous people because it was used by white people and racist, non-native colonizers, in aggressive, abusive ways. Native Alaskans emphasize the importance for proper communication and terminology regarding their ethnicity. In Alaska, the indigenous peoples fall into five main categories, but there are more. Aleuts are the indegenous peoples of the aleutian islands, Iñupiats occupy the northern, arctic Alaska. The Yuit peoples are indigenous to southern Alaska. Athabaskans occupy the interior of Alaska, Tlingit and Haida occupy the southeast coastal shore, and the Yup’ik/Cup’ik occupy the southwest of Alaska. An indigenous Alaskan from each of these much prefers being called by their actual name, rather than Esk***. If you meet a native Alaskan, instead of calling them an
Read more

Puffins, Orcas, and Otters, Oh My!!!

-
Image
Don’t let the title of this blog fool you! I’m going to discuss many more of Alaska’s species than these, but these are some of the most beautiful creatures! As I’ve touched on in previous blogs, the nature in Alaska is breathtaking, and some of the most breathtaking things to see are the creatures. There’s many days when I’m on the water and I see a plethora of creatures. Moose, bears on the beaches, bald eagles, puffins and hundreds of other birds. I see sea jellies (known as jellyfish to the Lower 48, but they aren’t fish at all), mollusks, and hundreds of fish. There’s porpoise, different species of whales such as humpbacks, minkys, and belugas. Orcas also swim around here too. Many people don’t realize that Orcas are actually dolphins! Their nickname ‘Killer Whale’ certainly doesn’t help! Rafts of sea otters float by very often, which is one of the cutest things I believe someone can experience! I believe the creatures in Southcentral Alaska, such as the Kenai Peninsula, are t
Read more