Telling fish stories

Purity – to Seas!
V. Karakashev, L. Levshunova, 1973

Only the gamefish swims upstream,
But the sensible fish swims down.

Ogden Nash, When You Say That, Smile

Here is a social poster which relates to the United Nations Conference held in London in 1973. During the conference the New Directions in the Law of the Sea were introduced. They were to prevent the pollution of the seas by ships. From now on every ship no mater the home port, should have had a certificate, which proved that no mechanics, hull or anything else could pollute or harm the sea or its inhabitants. Before that tankers were just dumping hundreds of tons of waste and oil right into the neutral waters. Other major pollutants were the sea-based oil derricks.

The poster shows pink salmon or humpback salmon which is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon – making it quite popular in Russia because of its relative affordability. It is very sensitive to the quality of water it lives in. The interesting thing about pink salmon is that during the life time it lives in the salty water of seas and then comes to fresh river water for spawning. As most of the rivers flow into seas and may cause the pollution if poisoned, the choice of a poster symbol, which is familiar with both saltwater and freshwater habitats is quite smart. Another interesting thing is that during the migration in quest for the right place for spawning, pink salmon cover tens of miles upstream often jumping out of the water. This is why the fish is flying high on this poster.

Buy the Salmon posters at allposters!