Day 53: Sunny and cool.
On our way to the harbor for showers we stopped at a small business advertising smoked salmon and PWS* shrimp. We picked up some smoked pink** and chum salmon and made a delightful omelette with salmon, onion, green and orange peppers, capers and havarti cheese.
Tom considered buying another fishing license, and I encouraged him to do it and so did his best friend Ed. We checked out a salmon hatchery and once again I was disturbed at the factory treatment of the fish.
I do not wish to detail what happens here. The fascinating thing about salmon is they come back to the place they were hatched to spawn and die. So these salmon return to their hatchery, where they are, eh, harvested, for eggs and sperm.
Again, I like protein, but would rather not know how it gets to the supermarket. I can’t even put a worm on a hook. The poor worm! I try not to step on worms when they cover the streets after a rain.
This, however, totally amused me. These are not the seagulls we see at home around landfills. At least I don’t think so, because they only come to land in northern coastal areas to breed and spend winters at sea. The distinction is probably irrelevant, because they behave and sound the same as our seagulls. They are Black-legged Kittiwakes, and seem to have found a fun pastime flying to the beginning of the stream and riding it out to the bay.
Anyway, Tom bought the fishing license and finally went fishing. He caught several pinks and some other fishers were asking what bait he was using. Now he’s got fishing fever and we are now staying in Valdez another day to get some more fishing in.
* Prince William Sound
** Pinks are one of the five types of Alaska, or Pacific, salmon: Chinook (King), Coho (silver), Sockeye (red), Humpy (pinks), and Chum (dog)
Arvitrekking 
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