Diane did some shopping to prepare for after lessons treats. We had our YSA home evening last evening as we do on each Monday. Kaylene gave the lesson and Amanda brought some cupcakes. They had a wonderful raspberry frosting on top of yellow cake. Sean had our activity. He wanted to play Dodge Ball. With 5 balls it becomes quite hectic. I played but was usually one of the first ones out. I just don't have much hop left in me anymore. It was one of our better turnouts.
Sean is expressing some interest in going on a mission. He picked up a New Testament manual for himself and Kaylene and promised he would be at Institute on Wednesday. That will be great. We have 7-8 who are potential Missionary Prep candidates. The branch president wants to get that going shortly.
Here are some pictures we took while visiting the Juneau Salmon fish hatchery.
This is Sammy Salmon. Actually the tourist bus drivers will drop off their tourists and change into this get up for a photo opportunity. This particular Sammy was Kurt. He attends our YSA Branch.
This fish ladder is the longest in Alaska. It is around 450 long. There are about 30 steps in it for the fish to climb. Some will take as much as a week for them to enter the ladder and reach the top. It was fascinating to see just how exhausted they would become. If they missed the jump to the next step they would simply float as if they were dead. Eventually they would get their equalibrium and rest at the bottom of the pool for another try latter on. Most are faster than that. It is built to simulate conditions they would face in a wild stream. 
Fishermen will get as close to the ladder as they can legally and cast for Coho. They were catching them quite frequently. This is only 1 mile away from Juneau and just off of the main highway between our apartment and Juneau.
This window allowed us to see the Coho as they entered a step of the ladder and then went on to the next step. Every now and then we would see a Dolly Varden (Arctic Char) enter the ladder. These are eventually returned to the sea.
At the top of the ladder is the holding pen. These fish are near the end of their lives. When the pen is full enough, they enter a conveyor where they have their eggs removed and the sperm removed. The eggs are put in 5 gallon buckets and the sperm is stirred into the mix. The mix of fertilized eggs are then put in trays containg 150,000 eggs apiece. These hatch in 3-4 months. The hatchery puts 150 million fry into the Pacific Ocean each year.
When the fry reach fingerling length, they are placed in these blue cages for a period of time. While there they become accustomed to the smells of the water they are raised in. That is so they will recognize this water inlet when it is time for them to return and spawn, completing the life cycle. Only 2 out of 2500 actually make it back. In the meantime they swim in the Pacific as far away as Japan and California. They face preditors such as seals, whales, Eagles and fishermen. When salmon spawn their life cycle is over and they die. These hatchery fish are ground up and sent to be made into pet food and fertilizer. I might mention that this is not a fish farm. I'm learning that "Fish Farm" is two four letter words around here. 
The cement arm on the right is the entrance to the fish ladder. The black head on the left is a harbor seal lurking for an easy meal. There were actually four hanging out there for an easy meal. Every once in a while you would see a chase when they went after a Coho still having some energy. But mostly they had easy pickings. 
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