21 Jun 2012

Kamchatka Salmon

The penultimate day of this expedition was blessed with beautiful sunshine. This morning we landed at the Opala River, one of the many rivers that drain into the Sea of Okhotsk from the western slopes of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Large numbers of salmon run up these rivers to spawn.

Salmon is one of Kamchatka ‘s major exports and as we travelled up the river we noted several “fishing” camps busy processing freshly caught fish. Offshore from the river mouth, large fishing vessels were also trawling for salmon. One can’t help but be concerned over the sustainability of this fishery.