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Salmon: The History And Future Of A Sought-After Fish

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"Salmon" by Mark Kurlansky. (Sydney Wertheim/On Point)
"Salmon" by Mark Kurlansky. (Sydney Wertheim/On Point)

Author Mark Kurlansky joins us to discuss his latest book about salmon and their unique link to global ecology.

Guests

Mark Kurlansky, Award-winning author. His latest book is "Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate." (@codlansky)


From The Reading List

Excerpt from "Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate" by Mark Kurlansky

Excerpted from "Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate" by Mark Kurlansky © 2020 by Patagonia Works. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Patagonia. All rights reserved.

Photo Highlights

Pink salmon school in the deep pools of the Campbell River, before venturing farther upstream to the spawning beds. British Columbia. (Credit: Tavish Campbell)
Pink salmon school in the deep pools of the Campbell River, before venturing farther upstream to the spawning beds. British Columbia. (Credit: Tavish Campbell)
Members of the Micmac tribe in a birchbark canoe in New Brunswick, pre-1870. (Taylor/Collection/Nova Scotia Archives)
Members of the Micmac tribe in a birchbark canoe in New Brunswick, pre-1870. (Credit: Taylor/Collection/Nova Scotia Archives)
Coho salmon eggs. The black dots are the eyes of the embyros. (Credit: Eiko Jones)
Coho salmon eggs. The black dots are the eyes of the embyros. (Credit: Eiko Jones)
A bear lines up a coho in the Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. (Credit: Ian McAllister)
A bear lines up a coho in the Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. (Credit: Ian McAllister)
Pink salmon swimming up Lawson Creek to spawn under the northern lights, while Juneau, Alaska, is lit up in the background. (Credit: Christopher Miller)
Pink salmon swimming up Lawson Creek to spawn under the northern lights, while Juneau, Alaska, is lit up in the background. (Credit: Christopher Miller)
Two fishermen in a setnetter hauling up sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska. (Credit: Michael Melford)
Two fishermen in a setnetter hauling up sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska. (Credit: Michael Melford)
Male sockeye and one female—the one without the hook jaw at lower right—ready for spawning in the Adams River, British Columbia. (Credit: Eiko Jones)
Male sockeye and one female—the one without the hook jaw at lower right—ready for spawning in the Adams River, British Columbia. (Credit: Eiko Jones)
Georgina Ballantine in 1922 with her sixty-four pound Atlantic salmon caught on the River Tay. It is the largest salmon ever caught on a rod in the British Isles. (Lordprice Collection/Alamy Stock Photo)
Georgina Ballantine in 1922 with her sixty-four pound Atlantic salmon caught on the River Tay. It is the largest salmon ever caught on a rod in the British Isles. (Lordprice Collection/Alamy Stock Photo)

This program aired on March 6, 2020.

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