Wild Salmon

Natives and the Fisheries

Lekaten is an aboriginal fisherman from Chilliwack, BC, Canada. This interview is from a talk he gave at our school.

How My Pet Bears Taught Me About The Salmon’s Life Cycle by Lekaten

When I was in grade three, we raised two black bears; they were babies. My dad was a logger; he was a faller; when he felled this big snag; it was hollow, but inside were two bear cubs. The mother had them at hibernation time, but had abandoned them. He fed them for ten days, but the mom never came back. So when he came home, he asked us if we wanted to raise these two bears, so we did. We went up and got them and brought them home and we raised them until they were full grown. We let them go four years later.

There was something those bears taught us. They taught us the value of life and the cycle of life of the salmon. I used to spend hours with them, sometimes three or four days with them and go up into the mountains. I would get into a lot of trouble because I wouldn’t be in school, but these bears taught me a great lesson. I always watched the female. The female we called her Beeotee. She had a white diamond on her forehead. The male had a white diamond on his chest.

I use to spend the day on the beach fishing with them, catch the Coho, the Steelhead; teach them all the good things about what we have let go and put back. Everyone we catch, we put them back if we’re not supposed to keep them. We do our share of looking after fish, all of us, because one day they become extinct. Then other things start disappearing, the killer whale, the seal. All those mammals that feed on Salmon will start to disappear. That Salmon that I had today has three very important oils in his body. An those three important oils are called Omega oils. Those Omega oils help your body fight sicknesses and colds and flues. It fights cancer, leukemia, things that we’re not immune to. No one in this room is immune to everything. So we always have to find a way to eat very healthy.