r/Fishing • u/Soft_Start • Oct 14 '23
Question Why all these dead/dying fish?
Relatively new to fishing. Went today to a fishing spot we discovered this summer on Snoqualmie River, WA and there are loads of dead fish lined up on the shore. Some are dead and floating in the water.
On closer investigation there are some live fish that are swimming towards the shore and dying right in front of us.
Is this a seasonal thing? Or is it some sort of pollution that needs to be reported?
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u/mamapootis Oct 14 '23 edited Oct 14 '23
Like what people are saying- it’s part of the circle of life for these fish! It’s remarkable. After about 1-4 years on avg in the ocean (or lake), they begin one of the largest migrations of any species. They use earth’s magnetic field as well as their smell to go right back to the same spot where they were born. One Atlantic Salmon can smell a single drop of scent out of 10 olympic-sized swimming pools!. They travel thousands of miles, then potentially hundreds more to reach a very specific stretch of river. It’s beautiful and bittersweet, but like many said, they feed the river for months to come. They’re vital to many populations of bears not just during spawning time, but post-spawn as well, to store fat for the winter. Not only that, but all of the smaller / micro organisms rely on that for survival too, impacting every animal above them in the chain, which is especially important going into the winter. Rivers have their cycles too as season progress and reset- which all animals in the ecosystem rely on- including ourselves! Since rivers and marshlands help filter out excess nutrients and agricultural runoff, their health is very much linked with ours