Pink Salmon in the Dungeness River Swimming Upstream to Spawn

Описание: Absolutely amazing! This was our first experience since moving to Sequim seeing so many salmon in the Dungeness River at Railroad Bridge Park struggling to swim upstream to spawn. As we began to cross the old railroad bridge, which has been restored as a crossing for the Olympic Discovery Trail, we spotted a large group of salmon directly beneath the bridge in a deep pool from a slow-flowing distributary channel. Wanting to get a closer look, Diane and I made our way down the bank under the bridge. What we witnessed from here was both magnificent and heartbreaking! The colorful, rippling reflections of fall foliage on both sides of the shadow from the bridge was like a magical looking glass peering into the aquatic world of the salmon. After resting for a while, one or several salmon would speed off upstream entering the small distributary channel in a hopeless attempt to continue up the river. Diane said to me “It’s sad. Somebody needs to make it wider. The fish are all going to die.” Of course, ultimately swimming upstream in a river to spawn is a salmon's final journey. Yet it is still sad to watch them struggle.

Hoping to find a small waterfall or rapids in the river where we see the salmon jump out of the water, we decided to drive up to the Dungeness Fish Hatchery. Here, Diane and I walked on the path through the woods heading downstream from the Hatchery. When we reached the main river, we encountered a woman who was on her way back. We asked her if she had seen any salmon. She said that she did see salmon where the small distributary channel, the outlet from the fish hatchery merges with the main river. We asked her if she knew what species of salmon these are. She told us that these are pink salmon, and that she has lived in Sequim for many years and often came to the Hatchery in October to watch the salmon swim upstream to spawn. Next time, I hope to capture some video of the salmon leaping out of the water.