Sockeye Salmon History
Scientific Name: Oncorhynchus Nerka
Market Names: Sockeye, Reds, Blueback
Description: Sockeye salmon have dark blue-black backs, silvery sides and white bellies as adults in the ocean. The average size is 4-9 pounds and are 4-5 years of age. The Sockeye's flesh is ruby red in color and is the most sought after salmon in Canada, Alaska and Russia due to it's wonderful flavor and color. Sockeye salmon is second to the Pink salmon in total run size.
Run Times: Sockeye salmon runs are typically seen in south central
Alaska starting in late May and ending in the early part of August,
and on British Columbia’s west coast from early June to late August.
Do You Know: Sockeye Salmon?
Quick Facts:
- Sockeye were the first salmon to be harvested commercially in the Pacific Region
- The rich color and oil content of sockeye may be attributed to their diet which includes a high percentage of shrimp and other crustaceans.
- The name sockeye is believed derived from the Coast Salish name “sukkai” at one time in common usage in southwest BC.
The best known Pacific salmon, sockeye are the most sought after for their superior flesh, color and quality. Their rich oil content and red color make them a favourite with the Canadian and international public.
The main spawning area of sockeye salmon extends from the Fraser River to Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Most sockeye in BC and the Yukon spawn in late summer or fall in lake-fed systems; at lake outlets, in lakes, or in streams flowing into lakes. Major spawning runs are found in the Fraser, Skeena, Nass, Stikine, Taku and Alsek watersheds as well as those of the Smith and Rivers inlets.
Young sockeye may remain in their freshwater nursery lakes for a year or more, with some waiting until the second or third year to make their seaward journey. Once in salt water, BC sockeye move north and north-westward along the coast. Their maturing years find them in a huge area of the Pacific Ocean extending west to approximately the International Date Line (2600 miles from the coast of Vancouver Island), north to the northern Gulf of Alaska and south to the Oregon-California border.
One of the most remarkable features of sockeye is a phenomenon called “cyclic dominance”. In many of the lakes of the Fraser River in particular, sockeye are abundant in one of every four years. Sockeye can mature at ages between two and six years old but in most systems, one age group (usually four-year-old fish) dominates, meaning most of the offspring produced in any one “brood-year” return to spawn four years later. This year of increased population significance creates a cyclic dominance, which leads to spectacular returns to the Adams River every four years (2006 is the next dominant cycle). Although there are many ideas about why this occurs, nobody knows for sure.
Sockeye salmon are caught commercially with purse seine, gill nets and trolling gear. First Nations use traditional nets, weirs and gaffs; while sport fishers are able to catch sockeye with spoons or bait. Migratory pathways present the greatest availability for catch during runs from June to November. Significant to all fishing sectors, sockeye were the first salmon to be commercially fished in the Pacific Region and were the first salmon to be canned in quantity, beginning in the 1870s.
Although ocean-going sockeye are silver in color, with small black speckles along the body, the recollection many people have of this fish is that of the sockeye returning to freshwater to spawn. As sockeye approach their home streams, they turn varying shades of red – resulting in a brilliant scarlet fish with a green head by the time they have arrived at their point of natal origin. It is this deep coloring, along with the rich cultural, economic and ecological history that continue to make sockeye a symbol in the Pacific Region.
Material for this page taken from Underwater World: Pacific Salmon and The Incredible Salmonids (out-of-print), and additionally supplied by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Branch of DFO.
Sockeye salmon travel thousands of miles from ocean feeding areas to spawn in the same freshwater system where they were born. They return from the ocean during the summer months after spending one to 4 years in the ocean. Spawning occurs in rivers, streams and upwelling areas along lake beaches. Freshwater systems with lakes produce the greatest numbers of sockeye salmon. Salmon are born in gravel beds in streams 10 to 700 miles (16 to 1200 km) from the sea.
Laid in the fall, the eggs incubate over the winter, frequently under several feet (more than a metre) of snow and ice. Their pink eggs are always covered from direct sunlight. About a month after they have been deposited in gravel, eyes begin to show. This normally happens in late November or early December. It is essential during this time that water flow and temperature are suitable. The period of greatest mortality in the salmon's life cycle is in the egg-to-fry stage.
In the late winter, the eggs hatch into alevins, tiny creatures with huge eyes attached to bright orange sacs. They grow rapidly under the gravel for three to four months. The orange yolk sacs contain a completely balanced diet of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The vitelline vein, running through the center of the sac, picks up oxygen from the water. The fish at this stage are totally protected from predators and other hazards. Good flow of pure water is critically important to survival of alevins.
Alevins lose their sacs, and emerge from the gravel as fry in May and June. About an inch (2.5 cm) long, they are free swimming, and are easy prey for larger fish. In the river, or a nearby lake, depending on the species, they feed and grow for periods ranging up to a year or more. (Sockeye fry move into a lake for a year).
In spring, during the season of freshets, they head downstream to the sea. They are called fingerlings during this phase of their lives, and are up to four inches (10 cm) long. In the sea they spend varying amounts of time ranging up to five years, eating greedily and growing rapidly in the bountiful ocean feeding grounds.
In the early summer of their maturing year, they begin to head back to their home streams. Scientists are uncertain as to how salmon navigate back to their spawning grounds. (Current thinking ranges from theories based on their highly developed sense of smell to an ability to work out direction from the stars.)
Salmon stop feeding as they enter fresh water, living on stored body fats. They struggle for weeks against rapids, falls, obstructions in the form of fallen logs and rocks until, bruised and travel-worn, they reach the placid waters of the spawning river where they were born. Sockeye is the most hardy of the Pacific salmon family, traveling as far as 1,000 miles (1,600 km) upstream to spawn.
With her tail the female digs a nest, or redd, in the gravel, hollowing out a cavity up to 18 inches (45 cm) deep. She prefers a place in a riffle, where the fast-running water will provide an ample supply of oxygen for the eggs. When the nest is ready, which may be weeks after the spawner has reached the gravelbeds, the female lays up to 8,000 eggs in the gravel. The male fertilizes them by covering them with a milky substance known as milt. After fertilization, the female covers the eggs with gravel, and remains on the redd until death several days later. Pacific salmon, unlike Atlantic salmon, die once spawning is completed.
