My Granddaughter Is headed for Lake Bay on Esther Island on Sunday for a 9 month
stay. Working the largest fish hatchery in the world That young lady is an adventurous soul.

I see it's in Prince William Sound. Must be a pink hatchery. The raise millions of them.

Way more valuable than the King salmon that we barely have anymore.

They also raise Coho and chum salmon.

"Correlation Pink Salmon / Chinook Salmon

Many salmon researchers and scientists have observed that as pink salmon abundance has ramped up to over 400 million fish in the Northern Pacific Ocean there has been a corresponding decline in both the harvest numbers and weight of harvested Chinook salmon during the same time period. A record copy (RC178) submitted by Virgil Umphenhour of the Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee to the recent Southeast Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting in Ketchikan features graphs that vividly illustrate these correlations. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/...orting_Information_for_Proposal_156_.pdf

Despite these correlations between pink salmon abundances / reduction in Chinook salmon harvest numbers and weights (which may be compounded by hatchery releases of over a billion small pink salmon some years in State of Alaska waters) the Board of Fisheries and Commissioner of Fish and Game have repeatedly declined to reduce pink salmon hatchery release numbers (on a precautionary basis) to possibly aid in recovery of Alaska’s designated Chinook Salmon Stocks of Concern.

The ADF&G Commissioner and official department staff statements have maintained, that although there is correlation between pink salmon abundance / declines in Chinook salmon harvests and individual Chinook salmon size, those correlations and / or food competition from large pink salmon hatchery releases may not be the cause or sole cause of declines in Alaska-origin Chinook salmon populations.

Since significant reductions in so-called Private Non Profit (PNP) salmon hatchery operations / salmon release numbers would undoubtedly have some negative economic impacts, it is understandable that the Commissioner, Board of Fisheries, and those possibly benefiting from raising / harvesting / processing significant volumes of hatchery salmon could be reluctant to make or see any reductions in Alaska’s PNP hatchery operations / releases. Meanwhile, ADF&G data shows continued decline in specific major wild Alaska chinook salmon populations — even after near-river commercial and inriver subsistence, personal use, sport and / or commercial fisheries have been reduced for more than decade, and some reduced to total king salmon fishery extinction. With many traditional Alaska chinook salmon fisheries now extinct, and major Alaska Chinook populations still in decline, or not showing much recovery, how long will it be before specific Alaska Chinook population extinctions may occur?

Does anyone else believe that the correlation between pink salmon abundance / Chinook salmon reductions, if addressed through adaptive management, has a an inexplicably greater likelihood of increasing marine Chinook salmon productivity / survival than total harvest closures of near – river / inriver Chinook salmon returns (AFTER poor marine survival has already reduced Chinook returns below spawner replacement levels)?"

Source: AOC Andy Couch.

Yep. I remember catching 40# plus kings from the Taku and Chilkat rivers in Southeast in the late 80s into very early 20s. Much bigger were caught every year, (my biggest was 49.8#), and the annual salmon derby in Juneau has seen steady decline in the winning fish, as well as average submitted fish size for a couple decades. Where it took a 50+ pounder to win pre-2005ish, the derby is frequently won by a low 20s fish, now, and a few have been won by a king less than 20 pounds!
Between the hundreds of millions of "new" pinks in the water, and the Trawlers killing sickening numbers of young kings, the evidence is there, and the Board of Fish knows it. It's a classic case of enrichment for the chosen few over the benefit of many. And all one has to do to understand why is look at the composition of the BOF.

A friend's classmate took a job at a hatchery in AK after college. He was there alone for the most part and a mail plane came in every 10 days or so.

So your grand daughter is going to help the eventual extinction of wild Chinook (King) salmon.

It's just a freaking job.

Been to Esther hatchery many times, but it has been 40ish years, I assume it has changed some since then. I think it would be a great place to work.

I agree. I should probably see if they will give me a job in May, June and July since the old one is never coming back.

Remember the days when you could catch pink salmon in the upper Copper Rv.?

No, I don't remember those days!

You will now. Because hatchery pink salmon have strayed from the Valdez mega colossal pink salmon hatchery. So many now the pink salmon are going to take over the copper river in time.

For the life of me I can't figure out why they artificially pump so many hatchery pinks into the ocean; only to compete with kings and other salmon species.
Pinks are a poor excuse of a salmon in the first place.

I know zero about salmon.Can king salmon be hatchery raised?

Yes.
But for industrial mass production it must not pencil-out as well as pinks. I'm guessing one of the reasons is that ALL pinks return in two years, whereas kings are anywhere from two to five years old when they return. Also, pinks go straight to the sea when they hatch, and kings stay in fresh water for a year before going to sea; that would require a year of feeding and other expenses.

Interesting, thank you.

Waggler summarizes the king hatchery situation correctly. There are a few hatcheries that do raise kings as well as cohos, McCauley hatchery in Juneau being one. They harvested eggs from a few different natal streams up the Taku River system for the kings, and the fish from those streams were robust 4-5 year return fish. It is a small program and is directed to the local sportfishing folks in Juneau. It is a real success story, and some big kings are taken every year, (including my best ever, a certified scale beast of 49.6 pounds!). It also provides the opportunity to harvest kings when other closures are implemented, as they don't count towards escapement treaties with Canada.
The coho program is also very successful and again directed towards the local sportfishing community. They also stocked the operation from Taku stocks, and some of those fish reach very large sizes, sometimes approaching 18-20+ pounds.
All of this is supported by Chum salmon. They have a large Chum program that includes employing big cape seiners to capture the returning fish for profit and the various enhancement programs they operate. To my knowledge, McCauley has never produced pinks. That has been a mostly PWS endeavor. And has been controversial since its inception.

There is NO PNP hatchery that pencils out. They are all subsidized by me.

^^^^^
Are these PNP hatcheries the same thing as what I hear called "cost recovery hatcheries"? If so, then yes, I agree with you. No one is subsidizing my commercial fishery, why should any other fishery be subsidized?

just don't forget to apply for your natural disaster relief money on those poor years.

"NOAA Fisheries Announces Federal Fishery Disaster Allocations
(Juneau) — The Secretary of Commerce announced allocation of $144 million appropriated by Congress for fishery disasters, of which $131.8 million is for Alaska. Allocations to specific fishery disasters are below.


2019 Norton Sound Red king crab fishery: $1,433,137
2020 Norton Sound, Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, Chignik, and Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries, and 2021 Yukon River salmon fishery: $55,928,849
2018 Upper Cook Inlet East Side Set Net and 2020 Upper Cook Inlet salmon fisheries: $9,404,672
2018 and 2020 Copper River and Prince William Sound salmon fisheries: $34,326,265
2019/2020 Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crab fishery: $12,935,199
2020 Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod fishery: $17,772,540
Alaska had submitted these requests for disaster relief after concluding that they qualified as disasters. Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said "Alaska is pleased that Secretary concurred with these disaster applications and that awards have been made. These awards will offset some of the economic impacts fishermen and communities suffered as well as help ensure that future disasters are prevented." "

I wonder if it is an ongoing disaster since we haven't been able to fish on the Yukon and tributaries since then either. Are there going to be funds allocated for 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, etc