March 17, 2001

Herring Spawn

Today was one of those days which remind me of why I started sea kayaking in the first place.

Here in the waters of Southeast Alaska the herring are beginning to show up by the millions for their annual spawn. With the herring comes all sorts of wild life and for us the beginning of the herring spawn is the sign that the long wet and cold winter is waning and spring is soon to come.

Today under the watchful eye of about a dozen bald eagles I launched my kayak from a place we call Halibut Point. I set out to circumnavigate Middle Island, a trip of about 8-10 miles . Within in 50 yards I encounted a pod of sealions feeding on a school of herring . I guessed there was about 15-20 in this group. A couple lay on the surface with one flipper high in the air. I have seen sealions do this before and I am told they do this to radiate heat from their bodies. As I passed them they bunched up and spy hopped up out of the water to stared at me.

Throughtout the day this gathering of eagles and sealions was common place. At just about any point of land I would see a dozen or two eagles sitting in the trees and find a dozen or so sealions fishing for herring. Sometimes the sealions would get curious and swim close and at other times ignore my presence. A few chose to bark or burp at me but none proved aggressive. I tend to call the big males "Bubba" because their manners sometimes remind me of southern rednecks.

The Eagles would take to flight and circle above the herring waiting for the right moment, then swope down and pluck a herring from the sea with their talons. On Bieli Island, basically a big prominent rock, several memorial crosses have been set up over the years to remembers fishermen from our community who were lost at sea. Two eagle were perched upon the arms of the crosses as if to say even in the midst of loss and sorrow that life continues.

Between two islands I spotted two Harbor Porpoise their dark forms swimming amid the herring and eating their fill. I remembered the story a friend told me about a time when he was a little boy and he and his father became lost in the forest near their Tlingit village of Angoon

The boy was ready to panic as the darkness and cold began to come upon them. But his father raised in the old native ways told his son to be calm and to sit and just listen. It took a while but the boy eventually did as his father bid him to do. As he listened harder than he had ever done before in his life he heard in the distance a distant 'whoosh' sound. He recognized it as the sound of Harbor porpoise surfacing to breathe as they fished the backwater passages. Without a word his father rose and walked through the woods to the waters edge, then followed the shore line home.

As I approached the end of the day I rounded the southern point of Middle Island and headed back to Halibut Point. Now even more Eagles perched in the trees to watch me paddle in. Almost to shore I saw something strange looking in the water. In front of me was swimming a long furry shape with a head of many horns. It took a few moments before I realized what I was seeing. It was a mink swimming with a sea urchin in it's mouth. I had seen mink swim before but from a distance the sea urchin gave it the look of a baby sea monster.

All in all it was one of those days for which I will long remember and be thankful. The weather? The temperature was in the low forties with the clouds hanging gray and low. A light cold rain fell most of the day. Alas on such a day with all there was to see, the weather could not dampen the spirit of the day or the joy of the paddle.

It is days like these for which we paddle amid the wind and waves of the sea.

-- Bob
In Sitka-by-the-sea

Copyright 2001 by Rev Bob Carter.
May not be reproduced or redistributed without author's permission.
Originally posted on Paddlewise mailing list on 3/17/2001.
Republished here with permission.