Swimming towards death

Salmons, old for their species, now swimming from the sea to their birthplace. From there the females will lay eggs and males will fertilize them - and then they finish the final task of their life and will lay peacefully by their offsprings and rot away.
Every year when it's time for the salmons to swim back to breed I went to see them. They use up all their strength to swim upstream to where they were born. They are not afraid of any barriers, even if that means they have to crash their heads and bleed. At the end of the stream there is a small dam, the salmons have to go up in order to breed. Many have tried and many have failed, there were so many rotting fish bodies lying on the staircase of the dam. Those poor creatures tried their best but could not fulfill their final task. There was stench everywhere, not only the stench of death but the stench of murder - of how everyone knows that those creatures are trying to create new lives before they die but still stands beside the river hoping to catch them with their bloody fishing equipments. One thing I know for sure, these Salmons will never be afraid. They will swim through the deadly hooks that humans planted and get to their destination, even that will have to cause their lives.
Are they really swimming towards death? Or are they swimming towards the new lives that will be created? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Edit:added some dark tones to the water surface