Young sockeye spend from 1 to 2 years in freshwater and a lot of this time is spent in lakes. Once they begin the journey downstream, sockeye salmon move steadily toward the ocean. After 1 to 2 years in saltwater, sockeye return to spend 1 to 8 months in the lake before spawning. A kokanee is a sockeye that is land-locked and cannot travel to the ocean. It spends its whole life in lakes and streams.
Sockeye salmon rely on streams, lakes, estuaries and the ocean for their lifecycle.
They feed on small floating creatures and insects. Activities like poor logging and farming practices can lead to erosion which damages streams and lakes and can ruin spawning beds or smother the eggs. Also migrating, or travelling, salmon in the Columbia, Skagit, and Fraser Rivers face dangers from dams and low water flow because of water taken for farms and for electricity. Steelhead can be up to 1.15 metres in length and weigh up to18 kilograms but usually weighs less than 4.5 kilograms. Young steelhead spend 1 to 4 years in freshwater feeding on small creatures, insects and small fishes before migrating downstream through estuaries to the open ocean.