fishes

I have to admit that I wrestled with selecting an image for this assignment...probably because I was conflating our “Document the Decade” assignment with this one. However, that being said, I selected a “nature” picture. I think this image is interesting for several reasons. Depending on a person's knowledge of fish breeding habits, this might appear, at first glance, to be a mouth brooder with a “boomerang child;” however, fish aren't that forgiving and there is no returning to Mom's. A closer look might reveal the difference in the facial structures of the fish suggesting that they are different species. Likewise the fingerling's position in the Pike's mouth, gullet actually, also suggests something different is happening here. As a fisherman, this picture reminds of a time I was ice fishing with my father, grandfather, brother and assorted cousins and friends...after all, ice fishing is a social event as much as a sport. In one of the most amazing hunting or fishing events I've witnessed, I caught a 14” pickerel with a 7” perch in its belly. The perch's tail was still visible is the pickerel's mouth and I caught it using a 3-4” shiner (a bait fish)! FYI -- Pickerel are members of the Pike family, freshwater eating machines, think barracuda or piranha.

This picture was taken at an aquarium in Alaska during an effort by the Alaska Fish & Wildlife Division to eradicate illegally introduced Northern Pike from Salmon and Trout streams which makes the image interesting on several levels. First, in one sense it was a “staged” event. The pike and fingerling trout were placed in the aquarium together. However, then nature needed to take over and when it did, I'm reasonably sure that this image wasn't the intended outcome. In spite of this, the picture does illustrate the dangers of introducing wildlife in areas where the species isn't native. At the same time, I see metaphors for Empire and Capitalism lurking just beneath the surface. The pike is heading towards the viewer with its mouth semi-open. The pike is also apparently a youth fish because its teeth aren't fully developed. In fact, the teeth are 2 nub on the roof of the pike's mouth giving the fish a somewhat vampiresque appearance. At the same time, the fingerling trout has a sort of frown-like facial expression/appearance...an “Oh No! Save me Mr. Bill!” moment.

So I wonder who the audience for this display is...clearly, the trout and salmon fishermen aren't going to be introducing pike into their favorite salmon and trout fishing holes. But if the salmon and trout stock are depleted, I can picture the average joe/josephine dropping a fish or tow into a “barren” river or stream so that s/he can have a little action when they go fishing.

The irony of the Alaskan Fish and Wildlife Division launching a campaign to remove the pike from areas where it isn't native mirrors the Europeans' attempts to remove the indigenous people from the their (the indigenous people) homelands because the white men wanted the property isn't lost on me either. The raptorious nature of the Northern Pike reenacts the Europeans' swarming invasion of the New World. Likewise, images of capitalism can be drawn, the larger corporation swallowing the smaller one whole...

I think it's fantastic that a staged PR photo shoot resulted in an image that captures much more than a wildlife campaign, a save the Salmon and Trout drive...what color ribbons are we supposed to wear?