5/16/2008

Lunar Cycles as a Mode of Transportation:

A brief scientific perspective.

Salmon, Steelhead, & Trout “ride” oceanic currents.

Timothy Kusherets

These intrepid fishermen have figured out that the High-high tide is bringing in a fresh run of Chinook salmon. They don't need a boat because a school of fish are headed towards them and will be within casting distance, and it doesn't hurt that they have timed their fishing trip with a tide meant to bring fish directly to a salmon hatchery.

The moon is in an asynchronous orbit with earth, though it rotates around the earth and does not spin, therefore only one side of the moon can be seen from earth. The forces between the earth and the moon generate influences on the oceans of the world. The moon's gravitational attraction is stronger on the side of the earth nearest to the moon and weaker on the opposite side. From our perspective on the earth's surface we see two small bulges, one in the direction of the moon and one directly opposite. The effect is much stronger in ocean water than on land so the water bulges are higher than the earth’s crust. Since our planet rotates in its orbit around the sun, and the moon rotates around the earth without spinning, the gravitational influences of these components contribute to the creation of the bulges that move around the earth. These bulges create two high tides and two low tides. The transitional state from a high to low tide is the slack tide, which occur four times a day.
All educated fishermen will tell you that salmon follow the path of least resistance. Though the premise is sound in freshwater systems, the same school of thought is overlooked in most marine areas, even though the application of skirting torrential currents is something no fish will attempt to resist. Saltwater currents can be fiercer than anything freshwater floods can muster, take El Niño for instance. Every so often, warmer water increases the Pacific coastline tidal current pull, carrying with it species of marine life that cannot escape the irresistible force. Many fish that frequent the warmer climate regions are forced into temperate waters where they flounder and eventually die. Salmon, off the same coast, are subject to the same whims of the intense current. If they are caught in it, they are helpless to fight against it, but for the most part they don’t have to worry about such anomalies. Traveling the currents is something they ordinarily do. It is their mode of transportation.
Tides have influence over all marine life. Oceanic currents that are formed help to dictate migratory routes that are conducive to the life cycles of each and every living thing in the ocean. It does not mean all living things in the oceans migrate but does show empirically that the food chain starting with zooplankton are heavily influenced by tidal pulls causing them to follow currents around the world and as a consequence set off a predacious sequence of events up the food chain that proves that the moon does influence all salmon. More than that, the entire substructure and all of the coastlines of the world, which include estuaries, bays, and inlets, are constantly in a state of flux and in turn create migratory paths which must be navigated in order for salmon to complete the spawning cycle. Following the path of least resistance is something salmon will always do.
The innate understanding of riding the currents affords them the same paths that their diet also follows, and in doing so, ensures their survival for two reasons; sharing the same path means that they will never want, excessively, for a food source; and by riding the currents, they will conserve the necessary energy to make the migratory trip home to the fresh waterways where they were born.