As celebrations for Canada’s 150th anniversary continue throughout the country, so are local exhibits such as the Seeking Salmon exhibit, launching on June 25 at the Sooke Region Museum.
The unique exhibit will exclusively be about salmon and the relationship between salmon, Sooke residents and the surrounding region. Several topics that will be explored in the exhibit include: industry and community growth, food sources and culinary arts, hatcheries, fishing, First Nations, cultural and spiritual practices, among others.
More so, Seeking Salmon will explore the creation of healthy streams by increasing and maintaining current salmon populations, as well as looking at reducing the human impact, said Sooke Region Museum curator Brianna Shambrook.
“When we first started, we thought the exhibit would be the relationship that we have with salmon, but as I’m doing the research, I find that one of the biggest messages is how human impact is the biggest impact on salmon,” she said, adding many parts in the exhibit talk about how humans can help maintain, sustain and rehabillitate salmon populations and ecosystems, such as salmon enhancement.
Shambrook also collected above water and underwater footage at the hatchery from different photographers around the region to compile a video in chronological order depicting the growth of salmon from start to finish.
Equally unique in the exhibit is a model ocean made out of metal that include swimming salmon and other creatures, designed by Shambrook and made by Kastawayz Art and local blacksmith Ryan Fogarty.
There are some family-oriented activities as well, such as a flippy board game for kids, along with a comments section that looks like a salmon drying rack. On it, participants write notes about what salmon mean to them and post them on the rack.
Seeking Salmon opens June 25 and runs until April 1, upstairs in the Sooke Region Museum. To top it all off and celebrate its launch, the museum will also host the annual Salmon BBQ and Open House from 12 to 2 p.m., so be sure to get your piece of some traditional mouth-watering salmon.
For more info, please call 250-642-6351.