Sharing a few pictures of our visit to a Salmon Hatchery, they hatch baby chum Salmon and then release them into the wild and after years of living out there, they return to the hatchery and mate and then die. The guide we had said their death is the beginning of new salmon and they fertilize the ground. Plus they are food for so many Alaskan wildlife, including this cute sea lion, eating his fill.




These are the Salmon returning to spawn.
A million baby salmon in the hatchery – jumping out of the water.
Wonderful everything has a purpose!
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It’s TRUE, at first I was upset they due, but the locals were happy about it, fertile land made them happy
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Salmon are a challenge to their predators and to their population. I suppose for sea lions, salmon are the ocean’s fast food.💦
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The seals were so happy, taking a bite of one, then a bite of another.
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Might seem rude, but I do not know. Just somewhat gross. Your description of it was wonderful though.
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Scott, I rarely every get offended, I work in a job, where honestly is very important – so do not think at all it is rude. I was upset about it at first – but the locals seemed so happy that the salmon were there and giving their lives to keep the ground fertile, after mating and making more salmon.
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Wow!
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Do they take salmon roe to eat?
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What they do is make more salmon, they take the roe and the sperm mix it up in a bucket and hatch the babies. Right outside the hatchery is a bunch of fisherman, they are catching as many fish as they can before they die, so there are bears eating the salmon, seals eating the salmon, fisherman, and thousands of salmon mating, it is very interesting. Oh and then the dead carcasses because after mating they die. But I saw no one just taking roe and moving on.
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Enjoyed the read, which brought back memories of when I worked in a small (goldfish) hatchery in Australia whilst still in high school – messy work!
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