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For some, a salmon evokes the distant wild, thrashing in the jaws of a hungry grizzly bear on TV. For others, it’s the catch of the day on a restaurant menu, or a deep red fillet at the market. For others still, it’s the jolt of adrenaline on a successful fishing trip. Our fascination with these superlative fish is as old as humanity itself. Long a source of sustenance among native peoples, salmon is now more popular than ever. Fish hatcheries and farms serve modern appetites with a domesticated “product”—while wild runs of salmon dwindle across the globe. How has this once-abundant resource reached this point, and what can we do to safeguard wild populations for future generations?
Langdon Cook goes in search of the salmon in Upstream, his timely and in-depth look at how these beloved fish have nourished humankind through the ages and why their destiny is so closely tied to our own. Cook journeys up and down salmon country, from the glacial rivers of Alaska to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest to California’s drought-stricken Central Valley and a wealth of places in between. Reporting from remote coastlines and busy city streets, he follows today’s commercial pipeline from fisherman’s net to corporate seafood vendor to boutique marketplace. At stake is nothing less than an ancient livelihood.
But salmon are more than food. They are game fish, wildlife spectacle, sacred totem, and inspiration—and their fate is largely in our hands. Cook introduces us to tribal fishermen handing down an age-old tradition, sport anglers seeking adventure and a renewed connection to the wild, and scientists and activists working tirelessly to restore salmon runs. In sharing their stories, Cook covers all sides of the debate: the legacy of overfishing and industrial development; the conflicts between fishermen, environmentalists, and Native Americans; the modern proliferation of fish hatcheries and farms; and the longstanding battle lines of science versus politics, wilderness versus civilization.
This firsthand account—reminiscent of the work of John McPhee and Mark Kurlansky—is filled with the keen insights and observations of the best narrative writing. Cook offers an absorbing portrait of a remarkable fish and the many obstacles it faces, while taking readers on a fast-paced fishing trip through salmon country. Upstream is an essential look at the intersection of man, food, and nature.
Praise for Upstream
“Invigorating . . . Mr. Cook is a congenial and intrepid companion, happily hiking into hinterlands and snorkeling in headwaters. Along the way we learn about filleting techniques, native cooking methods and self-pollinating almond trees, and his continual curiosity ensures that the narrative unfurls gradually, like a long spey cast. . . . With a pedigree that includes Mark Kurlansky, John McPhee and Roderick Haig-Brown, Mr. Cook’s style is suitably fluent, an occasional phrase flashing like a flank in the current. . . . For all its rehearsal of the perils and vicissitudes facing Pacific salmon, Upstream remains a celebration.”—The Wall Street Journal
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 30, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781524780715
- File size: 387134 KB
- Duration: 13:26:31
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Langdon Cook is a congenial guide to the wilds of Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and arid parts of Northern California as he documents diminishing numbers of salmon, tensions between commercial and sport fishermen, and the pure joy of spotting the silver fish in its native habitat. Narrator John H. Mayer is appropriately relaxed and amiable in his tone while also maintaining the author's enthusiasm, wit, and concern. Mayer expresses the ease that Cook has with all manner of individuals, including anglers, gillnetters, chefs, environmentalists, indigenous populations, and bureaucrats, all while casting a hook, snorkeling, filleting, or eating sushi. This audiobook is a timely reminder of the negative impacts of humans through climate change, overfishing, damming, and salmon farms, as well as a peek into salmon hierarchy. Naturally, king salmon are at the top. A.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
April 24, 2017
In this insightful book, Cook (The Mushroom Hunters) clearly outlines scientific information about the species of fish commonly known as salmon, giving details on the salmon’s life cycle, distribution, preferred habitat, and physical appearance. But the focus here is less on facts and research and more on how “Pacific salmon culture in North America is a dance between fish and humanity.” Cook connects with chefs, fishermen, ecologists, fish wranglers, reef netters, Native Americans, a “bearded masturbator of fish,” and countless others to get their perspectives on the state of dwindling salmon stocks and the impact on them of fish hatcheries, commercial fishing, dam building/removal, and wildlife conservation. The answers can be a little depressing at times, especially considering that the salmon’s troubles are almost exclusively man-made. But Cook also finds a lot of hope for salmon’s recovery in places such as the Elwha River in Washington State, where dams had been removed; in Seattle’s urban pink-salmon fishery, the Duwamish River; and in experiments such as the Nigiri Project, which ties flooding for sushi-rice production to increased California salmon habitat. In the end, Cook acknowledges that salmon’s recovery, just like its demise, will come from people. As one set-in-his-ways rancher tells Cook, “It’s gonna take a while. Because a bunch of people my age still need to die.” That may be the case, but for those who want to live to see the salmon recapture its former glory, this work is a great place to learn what needs to done—and an entertaining view on the positive and negative connections human have with the natural environment.
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