THE PACIFIC SI 



Five salmon species are native to the Paci- 

 fic coast from San Francisco to northeastern 

 Alaska: King (Chinook, Spring) ; Red (Sock- 

 eye, Blueback) ; Silver (Coho) ; Chum 

 (Dog) ; Pink (Humpback). Kings are larg- 

 est, average about 25 pounds, though many 

 weigh 100 pounds or more. Pinks are small- 

 est, average about 3 pounds. 



Pacific salmon are anadromous — they spend 

 most of their lives at sea and ascend fresh- 

 water streams to spawn, in late summer or 

 fall. Eggs are deposited in gravel of stream 

 beds and hatch the following spring. Young 

 salmon may start for the ocean at once or stay 

 in the streams a year or more ; some red sal- 

 mon may stay in fresh-water lakes all their 

 lives. 



Ocean life is 2 to 4 years. When mature, 

 salmon return — some migrate hundreds of 

 miles — to the streams of their birth to spawn 

 and complete their life cycle. All Pacific 

 salmon die after they have spawned. 



NL- 



Commercial and sport fishermen catch sal- 

 mon in the ocean and the rivers when the fish 

 are returning to their home streams to spawn. 

 As a rule only kings and silvers strike at lures 

 of sport fishermen. 



