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ePaper created 2016-04-04, 21:01:23 | version 1.33.0
April 2016 • COAST • www.coast-magazine.com • 19 I t is a sight to see: 30 to 50 million sockeye salmon return- ing to Alaska’s Bristol Bay in the lengthening days of May and early June. Poised for the last great pulse of their epic journey, they hold in ever-growing schools at the bay’s broad southern mouth until currents and temperatures and winds are just right. By mid- June the dime-bright fish press northward along the Alaska Penin- sula toward freshening water delivered by the bay’s nine great river systems that drain an area nearly the size of Ohio. But they are not home free. Homeward-bound waves of salmon are met by harbor seals, orca and beluga whales gathered to feast on this annual windfall. Sock- eyes dodge the nets of commercial fishermen and women crewing agile 32-foot boats and at set-net sites along the shore over a month- long season managed to perpetuate the bay’s legendary runs while filling freezers, seafood counters and store shelves across the United States and around the world. The sockeyes press on, leav- ing saltwater for fresh. They push against strong currents of the rivers’ main channels then into the ever- branching ribbons of clear water and shimmering ponds, guided home by the unique chemistry of their natal streams. Massive brown bears congregate at waterfalls and shallow riffles to snatch the slippery salmon and pack on the pounds necessary to survive Bristol Bay’s long winter. Sockeyes swim past rustic fishing lodges and base camps for anglers from around for the world who wade flowing streams to flick flies and lure huge rainbow trout, grown fat on a diet of salmon eggs RIVERS OF REDS MICHEL ROGGO/ WORLD WILDLIFE FUND Sockeye salmon adults migrate upriver to spawn. Dare to Care continued onPage 22 Bristol Bay’s sockeye returns illustrate the beauty and culture that define Alaska By DAVID APLIN