See Brown Bears Fishing for Salmon, Brooks Falls, Katmai NP, Alaska

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In several parts of coastal Alaska and the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia, brown bears feed on spawning salmon, whose nutrition and abundance explain the enormous size of the bears in these areas. The fishing techniques is often to congregate around falls when the salmon are forced to breach the water, at which point the bears will try to catch the fish in mid-air (often with their mouths). They will also wade into shallow waters, hoping to pin a slippery salmon with their claws. While they may eat almost all the parts of the fish, bears at the peak of spawning, when there is usually a glut of fish to feed on, may eat only the most nutrious parts of the salmon (including the eggs and head) and then indifferently leave the rest of the carcass to scavengers. Katmai National Park is also well known for brown bears and the salmon which attract both bears and people. Katmai contains the world's largest protected brown bear population, estimated to number in excess of 2,000 (estimated 30,000 brown bears statewide). Bears are especially likely to congregate at the Brooks Falls viewing platform when the salmon are spawning, and many well known photographs of brown bears have been taken there.

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