Spirit Animal – Sockeye Salmon Run And Life Purpose

One of the things that I have had on my bucket list, is to see the salmon run in the fall, as they go up river to spawn. I was able to do this last week, on Tuesday, along the Adams River, BC, where I watched the Sockeye Salmon run. We were there for about an hour and a half.

15 million Fraser River sockeye salmon will return home to BC after two years roaming the broad Pacific. Those adult sockeye that manage to avoid a host of predators (including fishermen) will battle the turbulent Fraser River and Thompson River 500 km into the heart of southern British Columbia. They will fight everything in their search for the streams that gave them life almost four years earlier.

Traveling at an average speed of 30 kilometres a day, the salmon do not slow to feed. Instead, they live off the fat stored during their two years in the salt waters of the Pacific. As their upstream battle consumes their body fat and tissue, they undergo a remarkable transformation. Their deep-sea blue-gray bodies gradually change to a brilliant crimson in their battle against such well-known obstacles as Hell's Gate Rapids on the Fraser and the many whitewater rapids on the Thompson.~~~from www.bcadventure.com/murphys/adamsriver/salute.htm

The pictures below give you a very small picture of the enormity of the run. The biggest part of the run hits on October 3, and we were there about five days earlier.

This is a picture of five Sockeye salmon who have managed to get up the Adams River and have entered the mouth of a quiet feeder stream. The fish are taking a breather before the actual spawning begins.

The Sockeye were coming in on the end of the Chinook salmon run so in some of the shallows, we could see very large, dark looking salmon that were the tale end of the Chinook spawn.

Here, you can see that although the body is quite pink or scarlet, the head of the Sockeye is green, and looks more like a pike head.

In this picture, a female is getting ready to deposit her eggs. The male is off on the side, waiting for her to begin her “dance”, and, at the same time, he is guarding against other males. The stream is shallow and his fin and back often breaks through the surface of the water.

We walked down stream to see the salmon along the side of the river bank. At times, the water at the bank looked quite reddish.

In this picture, the Sockeye have come up stream a long way from the Shuswap Lake. They have been battling rapids and they gather along the bank in the relatively quiet water to rest, before they continue their journey. The Adams River is about twelve kilometres long, and provides a huge nursery in the spring for the baby Sockeye.

The salmon are visibly tired when they move into the quiet water. However, as you watch them, you can see them gather up their resources to make the next leg of their journey.

This is another shot of a bank side resting place where the Sockeye are resting, or are coming in to the quieter waters to rest. The fish have nicks on their backs, and overly aggressive fish are already snapping at other salmon, and jockeying for a place close to a female.

(All pictures were taken by Judy Hirst in September 2010)

The salmon provide an extraordinary example of a life mission, one that they are willing to die for, rather than give up the quest. The need to keep the species going is a very powerful blueprint in their genes. If the salmon does not have the will power and the courage or destiny to make this run, the salmon population will decrease very rapidly.

The lesson to humans is to never give up. One of the teachings in success education is that too many people stop and give up their dream because they think it is too hard. People quit just before the success.

What is it that you need to complete?

judy@angelsandancestors.com

See the October Magazine on line at www.angelsandancestors.com/newsletter/mag1010.pdf