The Fraser River Pink Salmon Adults , spawned and died last fall ! Now their new children Pink Salmon “Juvenile Pink Fry ” , have emerge from their comfortable Gravel Reds and are now migrating immediately down stream , to the estuary of this world renown Wild Salmon River !
On April 23 , 2014 it is estimated that about 40 million passed through the Fraser Canyon at Hell Gate and still had their egg sack attached to their tummies ! Near Mission , the Interior juvenile Pinks , find many more migrating friends to say hello to , many come from the Heart of the Fraser River and the Harrison River . Wow we have Eulachon moving into the river to spawn and Juvenile Pink Fry leaving the river for the Ocean and Wow passing by each other in the lower Fraser Estuary ! We cannot see any of them in the river and these two migrations are much bigger than the Great Serengeti Migration of Animals in Africa !
At the mouth of the Pitt River ,the forever moving massive downstream Pink Salmon Migration , will reach over 500 million plus fish , all by the second week in May ! Luck is on the little silvery fishes side , as the river this year is now brown from the Interior runoff or “freshet” and they can stay kind of invisible for just a while , in the now murky river estuary water !
At NewWestminister it is estimated that about 18% the rivers out bound Pink juveniles , that are usually favouring the north side of the river , they will move down the North Arm of the Fraser River and the rest will continue down the much deeper main stem of the river ! Yes ! they have been doing this for Thousands and Thousands of Years , every even year !
In the North Arm of the Fraser just above Marpole , the Pink Fry take their first gulp of brackish water as a flood tide is moving salt water into the river ! This slows the little fish down , only just a little and in a few hours of only one tide , they are on their way again to the sea !
They are passing by Deering Island Park and the Musqueam Reserve by the millions now , in and out of the Musqueam and Swish Wash Island channels they go , to briefly feed ! The pink are still staying together in huge schools and must decide now to either go North or South once they enter the Salish Sea ? The Pink Fry Juveniles , stay around the Salish Sea ” Gulf of Georgia ” until mid summer , then they continue their migration through either the Juan de Fuca Strait Strait or Johnstone Strait and enter the open water of the Pacific Ocean ! The Fraser River Pink Salmons , ocean migration ranges into the Gulf of Alaska around to the Kamchatka Pen. in Russia , where they rear for about one year , before returning home to where they were born ! They will return to spawn and die at the young age of 2 years ! Yes just like their parents did ! See you at Deering Island Park , To “Wish them Good Luck as we wave them Goodby” ! Hey you have 2 weeks to send me a photo of the kids waving those adventerous little Juvenile Pink Salmon Good By , at the park and they might win one of 3 great wild salmon prizes !
Terry, tslack33@gmail.com
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