Ocean ranching: shepherds not cowboys.

AuthorSwagel, Will
PositionFISHERIES

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The problems Alaska salmon fishermen and processors may face today are nothing compared to the dire state of the industry 30 years ago. Wild salmon stocks up and down the Gulf of Alaska were crashing. The number of fish returning to Prince William Sound was so low the State closed seining completely in 1972 and 1974.

In response, orders and resources came forth from both the governor's mansion and the Legislature to help the commercial fishing industry and to rehabilitate the wild salmon stocks. "The intent was to supplement wild stocks, not to replace them," said Samuel Rabung, the State's coordinator of hatchery programs for the Division of Commercial Fisheries. "It wasn't about saving endangered species--it was just to add fish to the salmon fishing industry."

Thirty years on, the efforts of Alaskans from the governor on down have logged spectacular success. About 5 billion salmon fry and smolts (one-yearold salmon) are released into the North Pacific from Japan, Russia, Korea and Canada, as well as the U.S. Fully a third of those--about 1.6 billion fish--are incubated and released by Alaska's 30 or so hatcheries.

A 2008 report states 45 million returning hatchery-reared adult salmon provided $110 million--29 percent of the ex-vessel value (what fishermen receive)--of the statewide common property commercial harvest. Hatchery fish now constitute the bulk of many commercial harvests, such as the chum and pink salmon harvests in Prince William Sound.

The hatcheries help support themselves by selling a portion of the adult fish returning to the hatcheries another 15 million in 2008, for a total of 60 million adult hatchery salmon returning to Alaska. Five large regional hatchery associations also collect a 2 percent to 3 percent tax on the value of catches by fishermen/members.

"Ocean ranching of salmon is considered the largest agricultural industry in Alaska," Rabung said.

FRED AND THE REGIONALS

In 1971, the Legislature authorized creation of the Division of Fisheries Rehabilitation, Enhancement and Development (FRED) within the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), charged with operating State hatcheries--Alaska had 20 State-run facilities at its 1983 peak.

Hatcheries differ from fish farms in that the hatcheries raise the fish for only a small part of their lives. Chum and pink salmon are released into the ocean as tiny fry. Chinook, coho and sockeye salmon require a full year in fresh water before they...

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