At a remote park in British Columbia's Shuswap region, nearly 15,000 people clamoured to catch a glimpse of bright red sockeye salmon moving upriver in record numbers on Sunday.
This year, as many as 70,000 people from all over the world will come to Adams River, which runs through Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, to witness in awe as up to 6 million fish swim the waters to mate at the end of their four-year lifespan.
"People literally plan vacations to come here from all over the world," explained Jeremy Heighton, community liaison officer for fisheries and oceans Canada.
"They're from anywhere you can imagine. It's really a phenomenon in many other areas of the world."
Crowds, many with cameras and camcorders in hand, had gathered along the rocky edge of the river and along paths.
Further along a small creek, people on small bridges look down as a few red fish splash along the shallow waters, trying to make their way further upstream to find clean gravel and fresh running water where females can lay eggs to be fertilized.