You have to love a day
when you actually find good news among the headlines! It’s a rare, but
wonderful experience.
And I was lucky enough
to have that experience, the other day, when I happened upon this article. I
was thrilled to read that the salmon are coming back!
It’s pretty amazing the
level of argument and controversy that this relatively small and unassuming
fish can cause. Yet wherever it goes (or, more to the point, stops going), the
debate rages endlessly.
The salmon hatches in
an inland river, swims out to sea for a year or two, then makes its way back to
the river it started in, to lay a clutch of eggs and then die. It’s famous for
this routine. We’ve all heard about it.
It’s amazing that they can navigate so far and so flawlessly, sometimes
in murky water, dodging the bears and wolves, travelling up to a thousand miles
just for this age-old ritual.
Unfortunately, we’ve
also heard about all the threats to this spectacular sight. All too frequently
we’re hearing about mines, pipelines and other developments that are often
situated in such a way as to interrupt the fish and corrupt the water. The
salmon are a staple food to our grizzly bears, wolves and eagles. When their
lives are over, the remains replenish and nourish North America’s vast and
irreplaceable rainforests, keeping them flourishing and beautiful. We simply
can’t lose the fish.
But to be fair, it’s
not like we don’t all use the fuel and other materials they’re mining, out
there, every day. To suddenly do without them would require massive lifestyle
changes that most of us may not be equipped to handle.
So, development
continues. And as it does, the numbers of fish returning to their spawning
sight diminishes and shrinks every year. The debate rumbles on in articles like
this National Geographic coverage of Alaska’s Pebble mine. Here a gold mine in
the wilderness cuts through the salmons’ path in multiple places. It’s like a
modern day gold rush, except with instruments much more destructive than a
little pan and screen.
Every year, that is,
except last year. In several places in the Canadian province of British
Columbia, scientists and citizens have very happily reported more salmon than
have been seen in years. In particular, attention has been drawn to Still
Creek, situated in East Vancouver. For eight decades the fish have been absent
from this urban tributary. There’s no mine, here, but reports are that, with
increases in population and traffic, this water became increasingly more and
more polluted, and the fish more and more scarce. The place had become unlivable
for them.
A few enterprising
citizens have put a foot down, however, and, in the last few years, threw
themselves into cleaning up the mess. Now the water sparkles much more clearly
and, in an amazing and wonderful turn of events, it also splashes and swirls
with salmon, some eighty years since fins and gills last traversed this place!
People can actually walk through town and see the fish swimming around in this
little brook!
It’s great news, but it’s
not the end of the story. Too many salmon runs are still endangered and several
species of the fish remain threatened or endangered.
But it’s hope.
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