Seagulls and Salmon

July 24

Driving through from Seward to Homer today we stopped at a Beachside park for lunch. Parking was at a premium with people in waders, gum boots, trailing esky/coolers behind them with piles of stuff in small trailers all heading to the beach. The mind boggles as to what is going on. We eat a quick lunch first then head over to the beach and mouth of the Kenai River. There are hundreds of people on the beach, vehicles parked to one side, tents, shelters, chairs, tables coolers in all manner of shape and size and people everywhere. Seemed to be a real family affair!

People are standing up to chest deep in the cold water holding huge dip nets just waiting for the salmon to swim into the nets. Poor fish don’t have much chance with the number of people hoping to catch some. Once they get a fish or two in the net they drag it up onto the beach and spread the fish out on the sand or table. Once they have a stockpile of fish they clean and gut them leaving fish carcasses and guts and fish eggs littering the sand. There are seagulls everywhere and the noise is ear splitting. The gulls are so full they are not eating the scraps just pecking the eyes out. It is a truly amazing sight.

We spoke to one guy who told us that as the first member of the household could catch 25 salmon and each other member could catch 10. That meant as a family of 5 they could catch 65 fish for the year from this river, the Kenai. There was also another river he could get the same from. That’s a lot of salmon. He was also saying that there are approximately 120,000 fish per day swim the Kenai upriver to spawn.

(P- A fish in Alaska (fresh or salt water) would have to have the odds stacked against them! No matter (so far) where we go the fish are targeted by, pleasure boat, charter boat, float boat, commercial fishing boat. Add to that there are anglers river bank fishing, shore fishing (salt water), standing in freezing water chest high ( to beat the law in places there is no fishing within 10’ of the river bank) and expensive fishing equipment everywhere- Very few anglers go home empty handed and they are having fun. There is a salmon restocking program and limits on size and number of fish caught to ensure the sustainability of the industry. Me? Well so far my enjoyment has been cooking and eating fresh Halibut and Salmon both different but delicious on the plate. With a bit of luck I might get to catch a Salmon later in the trip).