In the Absnce of Salmon...

Pink salmon returns to the Glendale River system in Knight Inlet are very low this fall maybe 12,000 fish. In the absence of salmon, the grizzly bears have moved down river to roto-root for angelica (rice root) and starchy bulbs in the estuary. The odd bear is staring into the river, wondering where the fish are. We did see an eagle catching a fish, dragging it up onto the gravel bar and dispatching it entirely in 15 minutes, leaving nothing for the bear who eventually smelt the fish and came down to investigate. The sedge, in the estuary, is a good summer source of vegetable protein for grizzly bears, however, at this time of year the sedge is turning brown and drying off. As of now, the bears are only eating the sedge right at the water's edge, where it is still green. The sedge will soon lose it’s nutritional value as it dies off over the harsh inlet winter. Most of the bear scat along the river and road shows purple. The salal berry is ripe. Despite the 9 days of rain in late August the salal berry is the grizzly bears best bet for quickly adding sugars. Most of the black bears we see as we run up & down the inlet are up above the high tide line eating salal.

In the absence of salmon, Lenore (aka "Roll") our favourite female who was impregnated in early June, and perhaps again in late August, will reabsorb her fertile embryos. Her body will sense that she has not enough fat on to support her cubs. No one really knows if female grizzly bears reabsorb the unsupportable embryos, or if they slough them off as in a miscarriage. But next spring we will not see Lenore with cubs-of-the-year. Without salmon in the coastal streams, cubs will not be born next spring.

In the absence of salmon, this year’s cubs are getting eaten. Large males attack the Mom’s with cubs-of-the-year. If the family group runs, the last cub in line gets killed. If the mom has is willing and able to stand and defend her cubs, then the male may back off. In early September a Mom with 3 cubs-of-the-year lost 2 cubs in a week.

In the absence of salmon, the wolves return to chasing deer. We witnessed a wolf tearing out the hind flank of a racked male deer. Two grizzly bears took over the chase, but the deer managed to outfox the bears for most of the day, hiding behind large beach boulders, and darting off as the bears followed the trail of blood. In the absence of salmon, the harbour seals back out of the river estuary and turn to eating Pollock. The inlet hake rise to the surface at night, then the seals feast. Hake is not a fatty fish, but good enough to get by on. In the absence of salmon, the coastal forests along the river do not get their annual shot of nitrogen. Wild salmon are a huge gift to the forests. Imagine a tiny pink salmon fry emerging from the river gravel, floating down stream to enter the estuary, some to be eaten by kingfishers, mergansers, bigger coho fry and spring salmon smolts. Then the pink swims all the way to the Aleutians, growing to 2 kgs, eating krill and shrimp spawn and then returns to our coast and says “Eat me and spread my carcass in your forests.” It is a huge gift to us. It is a very high thought for one creature to give it’s flesh to feed another.

In the absence of salmon, what can be done? The Glendale Spawning Channel restoration work carried out by Blake Coverington, a do-the-right-thing kind of guy and John Dawson of the “Astral Star” in July 2007 will help the 2007 pink run and subsequent years. This summer the DFO and Knight Inlet Lodge improved the entrance to the spawning channel. They placed logs to deepen the jump pool at the mouth and added sluices to ease the adult salmon entering the channel. The grizzly bears will have a harder time catching fish at the weir entrance, a good thing given the low returns. Also the water intake valve at the lake was rebuilt, so that more water can be run through the channel. For the few eggs that will be deposited, the channel will be in good shape. As the pink fry swim out the inlet, we wonder if they will survive the gauntlet of sea lice on the fish farms. Will they be attracted to the night lights on the sea farms and get eaten?

Today we saw 6 grizzly bears in great settings. On the way up to Knight Inlet we saw
3 black bears.


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Grizzly bear viewing report from Tide Rip Grizzly Tours, Telegraph Cove, British Columbia.
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