PRESS RELEASE
“Salmon Runs Always on Time”
(Portland, Oregon) Author Bernie Taylor argues in his book Biological Time that the runs of salmon on the Columbia and other rivers are not late from one year to the next nor are the variations in the timing of salmon to fluctuating water flows and temperatures. “It is all a matter of perspective,” says the author. “They are just working on different clocks than we measure them against.”
To support his hypothesis, Taylor used data from Oregon, Washington and Alaskan state fishery agencies to show that both the natural cycles of light and darkness from the sun and moon are the key clocks the salmon use to time themselves. “Juvenile and adult salmon migrate to and from the ocean under the darker nights of the lunar cycle and they group before they spawn around the Full Moon,” says Taylor. The author’s endnotes indicate that smolt migration work on this subject has been published in the primary literature as far back at 20 years ago. Taylor used Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife data to demonstrate that the influence is apparent for the adults as well. For example, the live coastal Coho salmon counts around the spawning beds peak around the Full Moon each year. “The arrival of Coho last year were considered to be very late as well, says Taylor.
The author argues that these fish appear to be early or late from one year to the next because the cycle of the moon does not synchronize with that of the sun. Taylor uses the timing of Easter to demonstrate the timing phenomenon. This religious holiday is set on the first Sunday that succeeds the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox. In 2004 Easter was on April 11, whereas the dates for 2005 and 2006 will be March 27 and April 16, respectively. This apparent movement in time is because the 29.5-day lunar cycle of light does not divide equally into the 365-day solar year. Taylor’s hypothesis reveals that when the salmon synchronize an event to both the sun and moon, the timing similarly appears to move around from one year to the next.
“Timing is the most important and overlooked aspect of animal behavior,” says Taylor. “Animals have to synchronize critical events, such as reproduction. They couldn’t survive without reliable cues.” In Biological Time, the author also proposes that the fish are conditioned to these rhythms at the earliest stages and are required for them to feed and escape from predators. He also points out that they are not only of the light and darkness but the tides as well. Taylor demonstrates with the Kenai sockeye salmon runs that in-migration of the adults through the estuaries of some rivers is most pronounced following the Neap Tides (lowest of the high tides over the lunar cycle).
What is most extraordinary about Taylor’s hypothesis is he provides evidence that the basic principles were practiced by indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest and still carried on in tradition by one tribe. “The Tulalip in northern Washington gauges the arrival of the first salmon by a solar-lunar methodology,” says Taylor. “They target a Spring Tide (highest tide of the lunar cycle) during the month of June for salmon in the Bay of Tulalip. This suggests that salmon are congregating in the bay at the Spring Tides.” He also shows that the Yurok tribe in Northern California once utilized a solar-lunar methodology to more efficiently catch salmon in the Klamath River. “The Yurok counted a specified number of lunation from the Winter Solstice to build and then use a large fish dam under the New Moon,” says the author. “This in an opportune time to harvest fish because the salmon adults migrate more prolifically in rivers when the nights are dark.”
Taylor proposes that the understanding of how the salmon time themselves has been the missing link in the understanding of the fluctuating salmon populations and conservation policies aimed at restoring them, especially on the Columbia River, which was riddled with controversy throughout the last century. “The answers to many of our questions about the salmon have been in front of us all along,” says Taylor. “We just didn’t look in the right places.”
Biological Time
209 pages
black and white illustrations
hardcover 7x10
$29.95
ISBN 0-9749932-0-4
Available from The Ea Press
For media review copies contact TheEaPress@aol.com.