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Sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, spend a portion of their life in both fresh and salt water and play a significant role in the health of both ecosystems. As ocean inhabitants, sockeye are shades of silver and blue. However, as they journey back to their freshwater spawning grounds their head turns green and changes shape, while the red-orange pigments from their flesh move to their skin, transforming the color of their bodies into a bright, brilliant red.
88% Repreve® RPET (recycled polyester made from post-consumer plastic bottles), 12% spandex
10% of profits from the sales of this product will be donated to the University of Washington's Alaska Salmon Program to ensure that Bristol Bay’s salmon fisheries continue to thrive as ecosystems and support the economies with which they are connected.
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We stand behind every product we make. If you have a problem, we will solve it with the relentless determination of a salmon swimming upstream to spawn.
Sockeye salmon are a keystone species, an ecological term that refers to species that are critical to the survival of other species in their ecosystem. From birds to bears, and the forests and communities that surround them, so many depend on the marine-rich nutrients that wild salmon bring to the region.
Sockeye are born in rivers, lakes and streams, but soon venture out into the ocean where they spend most of their lives. When it's time to spawn, they swim hundreds of miles - from the ocean back to the precise location where they were born. For stream spawners, finding the mouth of the stream is only the beginning, as they then must “run the gauntlet” as researchers call it, swimming upstream in exposed waters where they are vulnerable to predators like bears, eagles, and gulls. This predation may seem tragic, but it is part of what makes sockeye so important to the ecosystem.
Sockeye salmon congregating outside of their native stream prior to spawning. The visible tags are deployed by researchers from the Alaska Salmon Program to track where individuals go throughout the season.
A sockeye salmon is released after a brief workup that includes a length and width measurement, body condition analysis, genetic sample, and the addition of an identification tag.
Vast numbers of salmon struggling to make headway up the river to spawn after arduous journeys from the ocean is arguably the most powerful example of a will to survive that we’ve ever witnessed in the animal kingdom. We humans often underestimate fish in the grand scheme of Earth’s living beings. To some, they seem foreign, unintelligent, and disposable. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sockeye are absolutely amazing, full of secrets, and keystone contributors to the planet’s ecosystem.
The Alaska Salmon Program at the University of Washington is the world's longest-running effort to monitor salmon and their ecosystems. Since 1946, researchers and students have been spending every summer in Bristol Bay, Alaska, gathering important data about the largest, healthiest, and most valuable salmon fisheries. Long-term, continuous data sets like that from the Alaska Salmon Program provide valuable insight into how our planet is changing. We're proud to support this amazing program!
"The Alaska Salmon Program is excited to partner with Waterlust to widely share our education and research missions. Waterlust's unique approach to science communication allows us to showcase over 70 years of data and knowledge that bear on management and conservation of salmon ecosystems and fisheries in a format that is engaging and accessible to a broad audience. We look forward to continue merging our passion for salmon education and science with their passion for advocacy.”
Daniel Schindler
the Alaska Salmon Program at the University of Washington
I work as a Dive Master and these outfits are THE BEST for my job and the active activities I love doing for fun.
I have several of these outfits however I will have to say this one is my very favorite. I love the colors and they look great near the blue ocean for photos.
I LOVE these tops. I work from home so comfort is an important factor in choosing items. These tops (yes I have several of them) are the perfect item that can take me from work to workout. The prints are beautiful and the fact that they are reversible make it easy to mix and match. I can’t wait to wear them as a sporty swim top while playing beach volleyball this summer. They are supportive without suffocating me. Two thumbs up!
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