THE SALMONS’ JOURNEY UPSTREAM
It’s well into fall and time
for the annual spawning run of salmon. This fish was photographed making its way up Grindstone Creek in Burlington’s Hidden Valley. The unseasonably warm autumn has salmon acting strangely, trees holding onto their green leaves and migrating birds holding off heading south, reveals Spectator reporter Mark McNeil.
As you bask in the glow of a glorious autumn weekend of balmy temperatures, consider the plight of the poor, confused salmon trying to fulfil a final duty.
The fish species — that lives in Lake Ontario the rest of the year — reaches a point when it’s time to swim upstream to spawn and die.
Many do this by heading into Hamilton Harbour in fall to access shallow tributaries such as Grindstone Creek or Spencer Creek. Each year at this time, the spawning fish can be counted on to create a spectacle of congestion in the shallow waterways.
But not this year — there’s hardly been any at all.
Tys Theysmeyer, head of natural lands at Royal Botanical Gardens, says it’s been a wacky fall with a slow-to-start salmon run, green leaves hanging onto trees, and migrating birds slow to fly south.
Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Philips says the fall has been extraordinarily warm “without a touch of frost or a trace of snow.”
And this weekend, he said, promises to be the best of the best, with temperatures nearly 10 degrees higher than they should be at this time of year.
Theysmeyer says that’s good for us but sometimes nature has trouble coping. Warmer air temperatures, keep waterway temperatures from cooling down, which is one of the signals that salmon use to know it’s time to spawn.
They are also affected by oxygenation in water which tends to improve in tandem with cooling water temperatures.
“In Grindstone, I haven’t seen more than a dozen salmon. With Spencer Creek I’ve maybe seen six,” he says. “Normally at this time of year the creeks would be filled with them.”
He says there is a distant possibility a major salmon run won’t happen at all. But there is still time — Nov. 10 is usually the cut-off date.
The Hamilton Conservation Authority is hosting a “Spencer Creek Salmon Stroll” on Sunday. And the authority’s Jeff Stock, who is leading the stroll, is facing the possibility there may be no fish.
“I went there a few days ago, and I didn’t see any,” he says. “But that’s okay, there will be lots of other things to see.”
With the warm, dry weather it will be perfect conditions for a hike, he noted.
But meteorologists say we shouldn’t get too used to all the warm temperatures. Winter is definitely around the corner, and this year is expected to be worse than last year. Meteorologist Brett Anderson from the Americanbased AccuWeather says we’re going to get more snow.
“We’re calling for above normal snowfall across all of Southern Ontario ... especially in January and February,” he said.
“I don’t think it is going to be all that cold, December in particular will be warmer compared to normal.”
Philips says, “I think it is going to be a little colder than last year. But last year was exceptional mild. There was only one month that was below normal — March.”
When it comes to snow, he says, it’s too early to say.
“Precipitation is a real crap shoot.”