Salmon are increasingly factory-farmed in aquaculture operations. Escapee salmon from these farms are often painted as infectious agents, contaminating the purity of the wild salmon who they mate with. For example, a 2021 New Scientist article expresses concern over “genetic contamination as wild fish breed with escapees from fish farms.” So often, dominant discourses around aquaculture escapees overlook the exploitative circumstances from which the fishes are escaping, as well as the fishes’ agential acts to liberate themselves from these oppressive circumstances. Given this context, it’s especially important to consider salmon, not as resources or contaminants, but as marvelous and complex beings.
(originally aired 27 October 2022).
Though there are exceptions, salmon are typically anadromous (Kurlansky, 41), which means that they hatch in fresh water streams, migrate downstream to the food rich saltwater ocean where they spend several years, and then migrate back upstream to their natal homes to spawn (Balcombe, 57). There are also freshwater salmon who migrate between their natal streams and large bodies of fresh water such as the Great Lakes of North America. The migratory journeys of salmon are nothing short of astounding: they require unbelievable navigational skills, mind-boggling physical feats, and incredible adaptability.
Fishes inhabit a complex volumetric habitat (Balcombe, 56). Given this complex spatial environment, it is perhaps unsurprising that salmon are excellent navigators. They navigate using several complimentary methods that we know of. First, they use geomagnetic sensing. Magnetic particles are actually part of salmon’s cellular make-up, helping them to sense and respond to the Earth’s magnetic field (Balcombe, 57). What must it feel like to experience the magnetic pull of the earth in every cell of your being?!
Second, salmon rely on their incredible sense of smell. To give you a sense of how acute their sense of smell is, Jonathan Balcombe discusses how sockeye salmon can sense shrimp extract at concentrations of one part to a hundred million parts water. Put another way, that is like being able to smell five teaspoons in an Olympic sized swimming pool (Balcombe, 50). Other Salmon can detect the smell of sea lions at a concentration that is equivalent to two-thirds of a drop in the same pool (Balcombe, 50).
Another interesting fact about smell, is that Atlantic salmon won’t flee when they smell the feces of an otter who is one of their natural predators—unless the feces indicates that the otter consumed salmon as a part of their diet (Balcombe, 51).
When heading downstream—from their birthplace to the ocean or a large freshwater body—young salmon sense and remember the water chemistry of their route, and years later, they are able to return upstream to their place of birth by following the odor trail in reverse (Balcombe, 57). Their recall is astounding! In addition, some experiments suggest that salmon may also rely on vision and social dynamics to navigate (Balcombe, 58, Okasaki et al).
As I mentioned earlier, the salmon’s journey doesn’t only require superb navigational skills, it requires Olympian-levels of endurance and strength, particularly when they return to their upstream spawning grounds. They have streamlined and muscular bodies that help them to travel long distances against the current! Not only do they have to travel against the current, but they must evade predators, such as grizzly bears or human fishers.
One of the most show-stopping parts of their physically demanding journey is when they have to leap UP waterfalls!! I remember last year, watching the salmon travel up the Humber River in what is colonially known as Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I felt like I was at the most high stakes sporting event known to humankind. All the spectators seemed to hold their breath a s salmon after salmon attempted to jump up a constructed fish ladder. When one finally made it over in a great, heaving leap, everyone broke out into cheers and I couldn’t help but throw my fist in the air! It was such a triumphant moment!
In addition to exhibiting incredible navigation skills, strength, and endurance, Salmon are also astoundingly adaptable and deal with incredible change in their lives. They must change their skin colour to switch from river to ocean or lake camouflage, and they must actually adjust their biochemistry to transition between fresh and salt water environments (Kurlansky, 41). Salmon must be able to thrive in large bodies of water that are rich in both food and predators, complex tidal and coastal environments, and shallow, turbulent, swift-flowing, and rocky rivers.
Returning to where I started this blog post—with aquaculture operations—I want to emphasize how these operations deny salmon their vital ways of being in the world. The cramped and crowded conditions of fish farms rob salmon of freely traversing expansive and varied waters, responding to the cellular call of their natal homes, and fully engaging their bodies in athletic feats. While fishing wild salmon might seem like an appealing alternative to the cramped factory farm conditions of aquaculture operations, it disrupts their ecosystems, subjects them to horrendous deaths, and denies them the right to life.
You can learn more about how salmon farming is impacting the lives of Indigenous people and wild salmon in British Columbia, Canada by listening to The Salmon People Podcast. Sandra Bartlett, the journalist and producer who made the show was recently on The Animal Turn, you can learn more about her work and salmon there:
Amanda (Mandy) Bunten-Walberg was a PhD Candidate at Queen's University's School of Environmental Studies where her research explored more-than-human ethics in contagious contexts through the case study of bats and COVID-19. In particular, Mandy is interested in how more-than-human ethics, critical race theory, queer theory, and biopolitical theory might guide humans towards developing more ethical relationships with bats and other (human and more-than-human) persons who are dominantly understood as diseased. Learn more about our team here.
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