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Chinook Salmon

Chinook salmon spend most of their lives at sea, but once in their lives, they will make the long journey back to the freshwater stream where they were born, navigating based on smell and the position of the sun.

 

Chinook salmon live in both freshwater and saltwater habitat at different stages of their lives. They are found in the Pacific Ocean as well as in connecting rivers and streams, along the northwestern coast of North America as well as the northeastern coast of Asia. These salmon can reach up to almost 1.5 meters long (5 feet) and can weigh more than 61 kilograms (134 pounds), making them the largest Pacific salmon. While they live in the ocean, adult Chinook salmon are a blue-green shade on their backs with irregular black spots, silver sides, and white underbellies. However, when they return to freshwater, their color shifts to be reddish, purplish, or brownish!

Chinook salmon are born in freshwater streams and spend the beginning of their life in freshwater, feeding on plankton, insects, and other small prey. Some migrate out to the ocean in under three months, while others remain in their stream for up to two years. Once at sea, the salmon grow rapidly, feeding on small fish and squid. After several years, they finally return to the place where they were born to spawn. Chinook salmon find their way using a sun-compass orientation technique to navigate from the ocean to the shore, then using their smell to help identify the correct stream to travel up to their original birthplace. During this journey, adult salmon are often preyed upon by bears, orcas, sea lions, seals, otters, eagles, and sea birds. Upon finally completing their trip, the salmon will spawn in gravel nests, and shortly after, both parents will die.

 

 

While Chinook salmon do not face major threats at a species level, many populations face significant threats and declines. The loss of their natural habitat through the construction of dams along their migration routes can be a serious concerns. Juveniles are frequently killed during their journey out to sea by turbines or other human-made structures. Additionally, some populations of Chinook salmon are also threatened by poaching, especially because these fish are considered valuable and can be sold at high prices.

 

 

Protecting Chinook salmon habitat, especially freshwater habitat, is necessary to protecting these fish and ensuring juveniles born in streams can make their journey to the sea. Additionally, for valuable commercial fish like these, sustainable management is important for the future of the species. In the United States, NOAA Fisheries works with federal, state, tribal, and Canadian officials to manage this fishery to ensure its sustainability. Oceana campaigns to promote responsible fishing as well as to defend NOAA and the work they do from attacks in Congress.

 

 

 

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