| Salmon came back again to Toyohira River ! Collection of the pictures taken by citizens.(2006) |
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| Salmon laying eggs at the upper stream of Toyohira River. In Ainu language, salmon means “Fish of God”, from old days, salmons have been important resources in Hokkaido, seen in many rivers. But after we came to center our interest on developing the city, industries of Sapporo, we realized we could find no salmon coming back to Toyohira River because of water pollution, to our disappointment. That urged us to start the campaign of “Come back Salmon” in 1979 starting to release the baby-salmon into Toyohira River resulting in the coming back of salmon in 1981 successfully. Since then every fall we welcome salmon returning to their “mother river” ( photo by Kaoru Suzuki in Kita-ward, Sapporo) |
 Salmon in Hassamu River,Kotoni Many are seen in the latter half of October(photo by J.K. in Nishi-ward ) |
 Sapporo Salmon Museum In the water-tank is the first salmon found in Toyohira River in September.(photo by Y.K. in Minami-ward) |
 male salmon Its up-curved upper jaw tells us it’s “male” (photo by J.K. in Nishi-ward) |
 a pair of salmon in Toyohira River coming back to their mother river to spawn, soon after they finish their final mission for the next generation, they go back to the nature. ( photo by Kaoru Suzuki in Kita-ward) |
 salmon in Hoshioki River After their long journey in the ocean and river, their bodies are torn, ragged. (photo by Y.F. in Teone-ward) |
 trout in Makomanai River When they have the season of spawn, their body-color is changed into pretty red. ( photo by K.Y. in Minami-ward) |
 trout in Nakano River ( photo by J.K. in Nishi-ward) |
| In fall, many of us are given the chances of witnessing the coming back of salmon or trout into their mother rivers. It’s quite rare to find these kinds of fish swimming back to the rivers running through the big city with nearly 2 million people, proving its natural environment is not polluted, clean enough for the fish to swim in the rivers. We citizens of Sapporo are proud of this seasonal event, return of fish. Many people are looking forward to seeing the first salmon come back to the rivers, taking pictures. When the fish are returning to the rivers, they are quite sensitive to the approach of others, as they are going to spawn without being disturbed. Catching salmon or trout in the river is prohibited. Please pay respect to “Mother Nature” here. (2007/9/1)
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