Whether you're a gourmet diner or interested in culture or
nature or how indigenous peoples make a living, you're
going to be fascinated by UPSTREAM: SEARCHING FOR WILD
SALMON FROM RIVER TO TABLE. Starting with the first day of
salmon fishing and the fishmarket on the street in Seattle,
the author Langdon Cook, who previously gave us a study
of 'The Mushroom Hunters', takes us through the story of
the most prized fish.
Most Atlantic salmon has been fished out or lost habitat,
and been replaced by farmed salmon. Needing to spawn in a
pristine stream makes the large fish vulnerable. The
Pacific salmon is divided between the smaller, more
plentiful sockeye salmon and the large, scarcer and more
valuable king salmon. As the king travels at the bottom of
the inlet water column, the nets to catch salmon are set
higher, catching mostly sockeye. Those kings which are also
caught may weigh up to eighty pounds and, dressed, can be
worth a thousand dollars for two. But price alone is not
all their value; these impressive fish feed native peoples
as fresh and dried or smoked food, and the dead, spawned-
out headwater fish feed bears, big cats and wolves as well
as birds. The bodies of the fish bring invaluable
nutrients up from the ocean to the mountainous land, passed
on to fertilise the soil and nurture life.
Langdon Cook talks with the commercial fishermen, chefs and
dealers whose livelihoods depend on the continuance of
salmon fisheries. Copper River is one of the main fisheries
but the Yukon River is praised by those in the know. Kevin
Davis, restaurant owner, will only buy regulated US caught
salmon, believing that otherwise the environmental costs
will have to be paid by someone, sometime. Jon Rowley
helped to put fresh Copper River salmon on the map - at the
time it was all being canned.
The term anadromous means a sea fish that needs to spawn in
a river, and Langdon Cook travels to the Columbia River to
try catching his own fish. Latest estimates are that thirty
million salmon used to spawn here annually; like the
passenger pigeon, their numbers were reduced by human
appetite and they now arrive a few thousand at a time. Huge
dams were built, some without any salmon ladders. Wrecked
oil tanker Exxon Valdez destroyed pristine Alaskan ocean
habitat. With reduced resources comes competition and
argument. A drying Pacific Northwest and reduced snowmelt
means rivers are shorter and lower so salmon can't make it
to gravel beds to spawn; there may be fewer in the future.
We learn nicknames for different kinds of catch, like fall
chinooks, chums, pinks and spring brights. And we learn
that an Alaskan hatchery producing lower quality farmed
salmon is mainly welcomed because the produce takes
pressure off the wild salmon. Of course, salmon eat fish,
so catching fish for the farm takes other fish off the
market. It's never simple.
In a book about experiencing salmon, it's fitting to get
recipes and alternative dining experiences along the way.
UPSTREAM is an interesting, lively book, well worth a read
for those who want to learn about the king of fish.
From the award-winning author of The Mushroom
Hunters comes the story of an iconic fish, perhaps the
last great wild food: salmon.
For some, a salmon evokes the distant wild, thrashing in the
jaws of a hungry grizzly bear on TV. For others, it’s the
catch of the day on a restaurant menu, or a deep red fillet
at the market. For others still, it’s the jolt of adrenaline
on a successful fishing trip. Our fascination with these
superlative fish is as old as humanity itself. Long a source
of sustenance among native peoples, salmon is now more
popular than ever. Fish hatcheries and farms serve modern
appetites with a domesticated “product”—while wild runs of
salmon dwindle across the globe. How has this once-abundant
resource reached this point, and what can we do to safeguard
wild populations for future generations?
Langdon Cook goes in search of the salmon in
Upstream, his timely and in-depth look at how these
beloved fish have nourished humankind through the ages and
why their destiny is so closely tied to our own. Cook
journeys up and down salmon country, from the glacial rivers
of Alaska to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest to
California’s drought-stricken Central Valley and a wealth of
places in between. Reporting from remote coastlines and busy
city streets, he follows today’s commercial pipeline from
fisherman’s net to corporate seafood vendor to boutique
marketplace. At stake is nothing less than an ancient
livelihood.
But salmon are more than food. They are game fish, wildlife
spectacle, sacred totem, and inspiration—and their fate is
largely in our hands. Cook introduces us to tribal fishermen
handing down an age-old tradition, sport anglers seeking
adventure and a renewed connection to the wild, and
scientists and activists working tirelessly to restore
salmon runs. In sharing their stories, Cook covers all sides
of the debate: the legacy of overfishing and industrial
development; the conflicts between fishermen,
environmentalists, and Native Americans; the modern
proliferation of fish hatcheries and farms; and the
longstanding battle lines of science versus politics,
wilderness versus civilization.
This firsthand account—reminiscent of the work of John
McPhee and Mark Kurlansky—is filled with the keen insights
and observations of the best narrative writing. Cook offers
an absorbing portrait of a remarkable fish and the many
obstacles it faces, while taking readers on a fast-paced
fishing trip through salmon country. Upstream is an
essential look at the intersection of man, food, and nature.
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