I was once told a story about a boy who was walking with his grandfather on the beach. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of starfish had been washed ashore. The boy started throwing the startfish back into the sea so they would survive. His grandfather shook his head and told the boy that it wouldn’t matter how many he threw back: he’d never be able to save all the starfish – there were too many. “I know,” replied the boy, “but it matters to this one,” and he threw the next starfish back into the sparkling sea. I have often thought of this story and the person who told it to me (dressed as “Peas” in this article on Make a Difference Day).
So, when I was offered the chance to pull small lamprey out of an irrigation ditch that was being drained so that they could be released into the Yakima river, I jumped at the chance. Under the direction of Yakima fisheries biologist Ralph Lampman, we collected and moved these tiny creatures to a basket in the water which would then be transferred to the Yakima river where they could survive. We were joined by a young videographer who produced this wonderful three-minute film about the project.
To bring the lamprey up out of the mud, Ralph sent an electric current into the water. The current was generated by a battery in his backpack and conducted between two nets at the end of two poles that he slowly moved through the water. The two parallel wands generate a mild electric current so that the lamprey come to the surface. As his helper, I then scooped them up in a larger mesh net to deposit them into a large white mesh barrel submerged in the water.
Asúm is the Ichishkiin word for lamprey. Ichishkiin is spoken by indigenous peoples of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.The English “lamprey” likely comes from the Latin word lam-petra which means “stone licker.” These eel-like creatures live deep in the soft mud. They are an ancient species and have been important in native diets, perhaps even more than salmon. Hydro-powered dams and irrigation diversions have been difficult obstacles for the lamprey as the Yakima Nation fisheries has demonstrated.
Ralph carefully documented our work on a chart before handing off the project to the next biologist who arrived to continue the capture and release program. Moving one tiny larval lamprey, or maybe two, at a time, I was struck by how futile our efforts might seem. As we patiently moved each tiny creature, I thought of that boy throwing back one starfish at a time into a vast sea. Hardly anyone will tell you that what you do matters. You have to blunder forward with a sense that what you do makes a difference. Sometimes it does.
Dr. Tamara Caulkins, Historian 