Goldstream River in Victoria is a world-class salmon spawning Salmon going upstream stream with thousands of Chum Salmon returning in October each year. Thousands of gather in the Finlayson Arm estuary, awaiting the fall rains before making their journey upstream to spawn and die. Bright colours and hooked jaws develop on male Chum salmon after they enter breeding streams. Typically the first salmon enter the Goldstream River in late October and the run reaches its peak in mid-November. By December most of the salmon have died, and the scavenging Bald Eagles gather in the estuary to feed on the remains.

Their carcasses provide vital nutrients for the next generation of salmon. Bald eagles, gulls, river otters, mink, raccoons, and many other animals gather at the river to feed on the dead salmon. Even the ancient cedar trees take nutrients from the enriched river water.
In Goldstream, salmon appear about mid-October, and may be seen for about nine weeks, the dates varying from year to year. Of the five kinds of North American Pacific salmon it is the Chum salmon that is most abundant in this river, though you may also see some Coho and Chinook salmon, as well as the Steelhead and the Cutthroat trout.

Goldstream Park Pacific salmon are fishes of mystery: the details of how they spend their time in the ocean and of how they find their way back to their home pools in their parent streams are even today not fully understood.

From the shore you can see them working their way upstream, and then, in pairs or groups, dig, defend their "redds' or nests, and spawn in the gravel. The female selects the spawning place, and digs the "redd" or trench for her eggs. This she does by turning on her side and repeatedly lifting her tail violently away from the gravel. A partial vacuum lifts the gravel, and the current moves it a little way downstream, leaving the desired trench.

Then she arches her body in a "u" shape while the male stands guard with his big, hooked jaws and large, strong teeth, fighting off rival males who approach the redd. When ready, the female moves over the trench, depositing her eggs or "roe" in batches, while the male crowds close to fertilize the eggs with showers of white "milt".

While there, look for the speckled flanks of the sea-going Cutthroat trout feasting on roe as well as the "Dippers,” the small birds that teeter on the rocks between underwater forays for salmon eggs. Sea gulls are after the same fare or to gorge on dead and dying salmon.

During December and January, the observation deck at Goldstream Park is an excellent place to view the many Bald Eagles that devour the carcasses of spawned-out salmon. Watch these majestic raptors survey the waters below from their vantage points high in the tall trees adjacent to the estuary.


For more information