Adams River Salmon Society

The story begins with the spawning. Clothed in the crimson garb that sockeye acquire in the last months of their lives, male and female fish pair and spawn along the length of the river - each female laying about 4,000 eggs. After spawning the salmon die. But even as their carcasses float away, the cycle of rebirth begins.

Not all the eggs are successfully fertilized, and some are dislodged from the gravel to be devoured by rainbow trout and other predators. Those that survive spend the winter on the river bed, sheltered by a thin layer of gravel from predators and frost, gaining in size and nourished by their yolk sacs.

In the spring, the eggs hatch and salmon emerge as fry measuring about 2.5 cm (one inch) in length. Newly hatched sockeye spend their first year in lakes - and the first destination of the Adams River stocks is nearby Shuswap Lake.

The fry drift downstream to the lake by night, hiding in the dark from the voracious rainbow trout and other predators. In the lake, they forage on plankton and tiny crustaceans - and continue to fight for survival - by the end of their year in Shuswap Lake three out of four will be eaten by predators.

By then the survivors have grown to smolt size - about 7.5 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) long. These small fish now begin a 490-km (304-mile) journey downstream to the mouth of the Fraser and beyond that, to the salt water of the Pacific Ocean.

Clearing the coast, the fish turn toward the distant reaches of the North Pacific. Here the threats include not only fish but killer whales, seals and commercial fishing fleets. But here too, the surviving sockeye continue to feed and grow, reaching an average weight of 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds).

Once they have reached maturity, a genetic signal from within tells the fish that it is time to begin the journey home.