This year, as many as 70,000 people from all over the world will come to Adams River, which runs through Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, to witness in awe as up to six million fish swim the waters to mate at the end of their four-year lifespan.
The massive school is part of an unprecedented 10.1 million Fraser River run of salmon returning to B.C. watersheds this year.
“People literally plan vacations to come here from all over the world,” explained Jeremy Heighton, community liaison officer for fisheries and oceans Canada.
“They’re from anywhere you can imagine. It’s really a phenomenon in many other areas of the world,”
Families with children, couples, and tourists from China and Japan arrived at a clearing anchored by well-organized hospitality tents stationed near various paths and viewing platforms along the narrow river.
Crowds, many with cameras and camcorders in hand, had gathered along the rocky edge of the river and along paths, but the atmosphere remained quiet and respectful as the clouds of dark-red fish crowd together, at times near the shore and sometimes mid-stream.
Further along a small creek, people on small bridges look down as a few red fish splash along the shallow waters, trying to make their way further upstream to find clean gravel and fresh running water where females can lay eggs to be fertilized.
After taking their one big chance at mating, over the next few days, the crimson fish will lose their colour and die.
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