Gone Fishin'
Not really--I hate fishing. Love to watch the life cycle migration of salmon, however.
There’s a salmon hatchery a couple of miles from my house. It looks pretty industrial, with big pumps and huge pipes to move all the water that must be moved—and this is just a small part of the entire operation. There’s a long waterway to the real hatchery part; that tunnel middle right and the grating over it lead to that stuff. The upriver flow is blocked, and diverted into that tunnel. The salmon migrate by odor (or whatever passes for it in water—taste?) and will head where their instincts point.
This photo was taken with the new Contax 645 35mm lens that I love so much; it’s a sharp one, even wide open at f/3.5 as here.
The real stars of the operation, apart from the scientists and technicians who make it all work, are the salmon themselves. You can see them moving through the water, just to the right of the photograph above. They are lining up for the swim up the tunnel to the ‘breeding ground’ in the labs of the hatchery. They seem oddly patient on their run, but always remain pointed in the direction they need to go. They don’t eat (or don’t eat much); they won’t survive beyond laying their eggs. That’s the reason for the hatchery; bears and other wildlife, not to mention fishermen, take their share of the spawning salmon. The hatchery protects their numbers and insures a strong spawn each year.
