SALMON: LIFE CYCLE OF THE SOCKEYE

e [Music] [Applause] [Music] the life of the Sakai salmon offers one of Nature's most dramatic stories born in fresh Inland Waters these salmon grow to maturity in the sea then return to their birthplace to spawn and die the Sakai is one of the five species of Pacific salmon our story concerns the life cycle of a Sakai soon to be born in this small stream which runs into Morris Lake deep in the heart of British Columbia soon after these salmon returned to the stream in which they were born they seek a mate and here we see the parents of the Sakai whose life cycle we will follow the female has scooped out a pocket or nest in the gravel with powerful sweeps of her tail this Nest is from 18 to 24 in deep and here she deposits about 2500 eggs immediately after the eggs have settled in the gravel the m salmon fertilizes them with a milky white substance called Milt and in about 30 minutes the eggs Harden to protect the embryonic life within after all the eggs have been laid and fertilized the female covers them with gravel for protection normally these eggs hatch within a period of 50 to 60 days in water that remains around 50° when onethird of the time required for hatching has has passed dark spots begin to appear in the eggs this is the beginning of life for our Sakai salmon when the eggs have hatched the tiny fish are called Sac fry these fry remain in the gravel below the stream bed until they have absorbed the Yol in the egg sack which is attached to their bodies when this food supply has ended the young salmon worked themselves upward through the gravel to seek food food in the Stream above the fry leave the gravel in the early spring and follow the stream to where it empties into moris Lake here they enter a vast new world of water to feed on its abundance of Plankton and small insects in this secluded Lake the majority of the young Salmons spend a year some of them two or three years feeding and building up their strength during their life in the lake the small fry grow into fingerlings in the spring a mysterious Force impels most of these fingerlings to migrate Downstream and our salmon now a sturdy swimmer among thousands of others starts his journey out of the lake the Fraser and skina rivers with their tributaries reach hundreds of miles into the British Columbia Wilderness starting from thousands of lakes and streams millions of salmon fingerlings use these watery highways in their Springtime Migra to the Pacific Ocean here they disappear for a period of 3 to 4 years to feed on the abundance of small creatures that inhabit the ocean's depth these young salmon have survived the many hazards of the long migration and now swim out through the mouth of the sken into the Open Sea the beautiful city of Vancouver lies at the mouth of the Frasier River the greatest single River fishery in the world Prince rert is situated about 500 miles to the North near the mouth of the SK River the second most important salmon stream in British Columbia other rivers such as the nass have large salmon runs but the Fraser and skina are the highways from the sea or the vast schools of returning salmon which after 3 or four years in salt water have reached their maturity the all powerful urge to perpetuate their species causes the salmon to leave the friendly ocean and fight their way Upstream for hundreds of miles to the distant spawning grounds where they were born the Fraser River Run of Sakai passes through the Straits of wuka and into the Fraser River millions of Sakai have used this River to return to their spawning ground at the source Waters of the Fraser Thompson Adams and chilko rivers at Hell's Gate gigantic Rock slides almost wiped out entire races of salmon by preventing them from reaching the spawning ground a man-made fishway now makes it possible for the salmon to pass around the turbulent Waters at the narrow part of Hell's Gate at Prince rert a large fishing fleet is ready and as soon as the salmon run is underway the TR rollers gilets and sers sail out to take their toll the trollers work offshore where thousands of Sakai are snared by the lures at the ends of the lines attached to the long poles a sler stays in calm Waters whenever possible and with the use of Nets large numbers of salmon are caught as they pass through the channels on their way to the river's mouth in some of the northern Waters it is legal to place traps in the path of the salmon schools and these traps capture many tons of fish during the salmon run all of the fish caught commercially are taken to the unloading ducks at the nearest Canary the high oil content and the color of their flesh plus their almost uniform size make the Sun the most prized of all Pacific salmon the salmon that escaped these many hazards are met at the river's mouth by Sports fishermen who use flashing spoons and lures to taunt them into striking at their hooks as soon as the salmon enter the freshwat of the SK River they stop feeding completely and live on the energy stored up during their life in the sea as our Sakai passes a rocky ledge a bear grabs for him but misses but the next one is not so fortunate and the fish eating bear catches the wriggling salmon and ambl slowly away to enjoy a feast by the time the surviving salmon have reached the bukley river certain physical changes have occurred they have turned a bright red and in their 200m fight Upstream many of them have been torn and bruised in the edies along the walls of the gorge below the morles town Falls the salmon rest for their struggle to overcome the last major obstacle on their way to the spawning ground the survival of the fittest is demonstrated here in dramatic form as the Valiant salmon leap and fight at the face of the falls in their effort to reach the pools above taking advantage of all natural aid the salmon fight their way along the rocky edges to reach pools where they can rest many of them are caught by the force of the water and swept down stream in addition to the Natural hazards of rocks and waterfalls the salmon must now Escape being caught by the Indians who have fished here for centuries the salmon reached the upper Pools by a series of natural steps in the Rock and an Indian with watchful eye stands ready with his long gaffing pole with a quick thrust and upward pull he jerks the salmon into the air many of the fish are dashed to pieces on the Rocks but others driven onward by the creative urge continue the fight until they reach the river above or exhausted and bruised rest in the edies until they regain their strength for another attempt our Sakai has managed to survive all the hazards so far and here he is struggling against racing waters in a supreme effort to reach the river above with all his remaining strength he fights upward and wins in the safety of the pool above the Falls our Sakai rests for a while and then once again swims against the current toward the distant Hills and the stream in which he was born that mysterious Force called the Homing Instinct has guided these Sakai SA through hundreds of miles of salt and fresh water back to the small stream where they emerged from an egg our Sakai has spawned and thus reached the end of his natural cycle for all species of Pacific salmon die after their first and only spawning the greatest Force among living things is the creative urge and so in late summer the Sakai returns to his native stream there to spawn and die that Generations yet unborn may live [Music] [Applause]