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http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...ye+floods+into+Adams+River/3599360/story.html
Tsunami of spawning sockeye floods into B.C.'s Adams River
By LARRY PYNN, Vancouver Sun
They're back. And they're back big.
A tsunami of sockeye salmon in their striking body-red and head-green spawning colours is flooding into the Adams River in B.C.'s Shuswap region in numbers potentially unseen for the past century.
"It's supposed to be the biggest run in a hundred years," Jim Cooperman, spokesman for the Salute to the Sockeye Festival, said Wednesday from Salmon Arm. "Millions and millions of fish. It's amazing."
So many sockeye are expected to arrive that the Adams River cannot accommodate them all, resulting in salmon seeking out other streams in the Shuswap region such as Scotch Creek, which has already had bumper returns this year.
Jeremy Heighton, the federal fisheries department's representative for the Salute to the Sockeye Festival running through Oct. 24, said counting of the returning sockeye is continuing, although anecdotally "we're seeing more fish at this point in the run than in the past."
Already the river is about 60-per-cent full of sockeye, which is one to one and a half weeks ahead of schedule, he said.
Whether or not all the sockeye spawn successfully, the bodies of the dead spawned-out salmon and their eggs are a huge nutritional source, both immediately to a host of plants and animals, but also later to emerging fry.
"Too many fish is a subjective statement," Heighton said. "This is a bonanza for the animals, for the ecosystem. It's like filling your fridge with everything you could imagine and being able to go in there and gorge yourself. It's an incredible opportunity."
This is the dominant year of the sockeye's four-year cycle; an estimated 1.5 million returned to spawn in 2006 and 3.7 million in 2002.
An unexpected 34 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River watershed this year, the biggest since 1913.
The focal point for the sockeye's return is 1,076-hectare Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, which includes 11 kilometres of prime spawning habitat east of Chase. Sockeye take about 17 days to complete their 485-kilometre journey up the Fraser and Thompson rivers from the Pacific Ocean to the Adams River.
A festival Sunday at Haig-Brown will feature a variety of events, including guided walks, exhibits, live music, and a songwriting contest that must incorporate the words sockeye salmon and Adams River. "It's an awesome way to connect people to a place, through music," Cooperman said.
For more information, visit Adams River Salmon Society, www.salmonsociety.com, or Chase and District Chamber of Commerce, www.chasechamber.com. Camping is allowed at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park, www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks, but not Haig-Brown.
To view spawning sockeye closer to Metro Vancouver, if in smaller numbers, visit Weaver Creek near Harrison Mills, between Mission and Agassiz, around mid-October.
lpynn@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...+Adams+River/3599360/story.html#ixzz10y4d91Yc
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
Tsunami of spawning sockeye floods into B.C.'s Adams River
By LARRY PYNN, Vancouver Sun
They're back. And they're back big.
A tsunami of sockeye salmon in their striking body-red and head-green spawning colours is flooding into the Adams River in B.C.'s Shuswap region in numbers potentially unseen for the past century.
"It's supposed to be the biggest run in a hundred years," Jim Cooperman, spokesman for the Salute to the Sockeye Festival, said Wednesday from Salmon Arm. "Millions and millions of fish. It's amazing."
So many sockeye are expected to arrive that the Adams River cannot accommodate them all, resulting in salmon seeking out other streams in the Shuswap region such as Scotch Creek, which has already had bumper returns this year.
Jeremy Heighton, the federal fisheries department's representative for the Salute to the Sockeye Festival running through Oct. 24, said counting of the returning sockeye is continuing, although anecdotally "we're seeing more fish at this point in the run than in the past."
Already the river is about 60-per-cent full of sockeye, which is one to one and a half weeks ahead of schedule, he said.
Whether or not all the sockeye spawn successfully, the bodies of the dead spawned-out salmon and their eggs are a huge nutritional source, both immediately to a host of plants and animals, but also later to emerging fry.
"Too many fish is a subjective statement," Heighton said. "This is a bonanza for the animals, for the ecosystem. It's like filling your fridge with everything you could imagine and being able to go in there and gorge yourself. It's an incredible opportunity."
This is the dominant year of the sockeye's four-year cycle; an estimated 1.5 million returned to spawn in 2006 and 3.7 million in 2002.
An unexpected 34 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River watershed this year, the biggest since 1913.
The focal point for the sockeye's return is 1,076-hectare Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, which includes 11 kilometres of prime spawning habitat east of Chase. Sockeye take about 17 days to complete their 485-kilometre journey up the Fraser and Thompson rivers from the Pacific Ocean to the Adams River.
A festival Sunday at Haig-Brown will feature a variety of events, including guided walks, exhibits, live music, and a songwriting contest that must incorporate the words sockeye salmon and Adams River. "It's an awesome way to connect people to a place, through music," Cooperman said.
For more information, visit Adams River Salmon Society, www.salmonsociety.com, or Chase and District Chamber of Commerce, www.chasechamber.com. Camping is allowed at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park, www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks, but not Haig-Brown.
To view spawning sockeye closer to Metro Vancouver, if in smaller numbers, visit Weaver Creek near Harrison Mills, between Mission and Agassiz, around mid-October.
lpynn@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...+Adams+River/3599360/story.html#ixzz10y4d91Yc
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
