Decoding the Lingo
Until/unless something changes, Otis Fishing Reports are published at Explore.org in their Bear Chat. You can follow Nature’s Folio there, if you’re an Explore or Disqus user already.
Explore requires that we post abbreviations for the cams snapshots originate. You’ll see those abbreviations used throughout the older posts:
- BF: Brooks Falls
- BFL: Brooks Falls Low
- RF: Riffles
- KRV: Kat’s River View
- – LR: Lower River, prior to 2023
- RW: River Watch
- UW: Underwater
- DM: Dumpling Mountain
We count several categories of Otis noms:
- FISH: A whole sockeye salmon, from head to tail
- SCRAPS: The remains of another bear’s fish
- DOAs: Spawned salmon that are dead or dying
- HIGH GRADE: Partially eaten salmon
- SNIFFS: See “high-grading” below
- PIRATED: A fish stolen by another bear (counts for catches, but it’s calorie free 😉 )
“High-grading” is the practice of eating just the fattiest parts of the salmon — the brains, skin, and eggs. You’ll see bears do this when the fish are plentiful. Next-level high grading is when the fish are so picky that they’ll “sniff” a fish, determine it’s male, and throw it back in favor of catching a female with eggs. (I rather like caviar myself, so I get that!)
At first, you may think the less fatty parts of the fish from a high-grade are being wasted. They’re not — they’ll float down river and newly emancipated sub-adult bears and moms who are feeding extra mouths will eat those scraps. And anything that doesn’t get eaten will fertilize the landscape.
The Rules
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Wishes for fishes and sweet salmony dreams!
