Book Description

"Via philosophy, technique and knowledge, Giles encourages the reader to question and ponder, sharing expert insight.” - The Field (Alexandra Henton, editor). The Secret Life of Salmon is something both personal and intimate, and macro and global. The life story of Atlantic, Chum, Sockeye, King, Silver and Pink salmon, has gripped the human consciousness since the dawn of time. Now we have a new interactive angle on the existential eco status of the king of fish. A mirror held up to our warming world - via science, sporting and aquacultural viewpoints. This book takes in the start of a salmon’s life cycle with gravel covered eggs hatching in a specific river pool, we hear fascinating secrets with a backdrop of the time-lapsed seasons changing overhead and specified times of year. We follow the salmon's epic journey of quest through icy and wild northern waters to its conclusion in an upland stream. Read about the great success stories of conservation - the 21st-century buy-out of drift-nets in British and Irish waters; the application of ranching in the vast waters of the Alaskan-Pacific. The groundbreaking smolt tracking methods using cutting edge science applied on famous but threatened salmon populations from New Brunswick streams to Moray Firth rivers and out to sea. A sustainable future for these iconic fish? The answer is here including the latest on new technology and significance and legacy of COP26 in Glasgow, taking in the road to COP 27 and beyond. Predators. Size of river. Numbers. Withering in-river predation from mergansers, goosanders and mink, then grey seals, dolphins and orcas in salmons' marine iteration. How do fish in your chosen location fare compared to salmon elsewhere? The answer is here. Bringing it back home: the pods of muscled chrome-silver salmon nosing back into tidal reaches of their home river to spawn. A map in its head, a smell of the water. Nature's wisdom staggering runs of fish back on an imperative they can’t ignore? This book, with its unique pictures is a visual, technical, philosophical and emotional feast and a serious call to arms. New light is shed on new events, new scientific and environmental projects, and the foreword by Dr Paul Rouse FRSA, who worked with the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative as its science adviser, sets an epoch defining moment for the salmon and its secrets. Praise for How To Catch More Salmon (White Owl Books, 2019): "Devoted salmon fisher Henry Giles has written a book to help others catch the elusive kings of the river. Try it… you might just get hooked.” - The Scotsman