Salmon

One of the finest, most beautiful, well-known and popular fish in existence, the salmon is a king among fish.

It is a migratory fish, born in a river, living in the sea and returning to the river of its birth to spawn. It is thought that once the salmon returns to fresh water it stops feeding and does not start again until it returns to the sea. Accepting this fact is difficult, because it is caught using a rod and line by those dedicated fishermen, so it must take the bait.

The salmon is suffering badly because of over-fishing. Thankfully, however, it is now farmed quite extensively and this is helping to alleviate the problem. Nevertheless, the threat of the poacher is a great problem and one that appears to be getting worse, simply because the salmon is greatly prized and commands a high price. Man is not the only predator of the salmon, however – its flesh is also highly prized by some fish and birds. On many an occasion I have witnessed a salmon floundering in a shallow part of a river close to a weir being attacked by hungry sea gulls, who peck large holes in the sides of the salmon and then leave it to die.