Alaska Salmon Hatcheries Based on Principle of Protecting Wild Stocks
SEAFOODNEWS.COM By Peggy Parker - August 26, 2015
Salmon Hatcheries have come under increased scrutiny by certification bodies, who are just coming up to speed with the difference and history of various salmon hatchery programs. This is the first of a series of articles by Peggy Parker on Alaska's hatcheries, with the aim to focus on both accomplishments and sustainability issues.
When the 2015 salmon season is over and final statewide landings are posted in the coming months, the importance of Alaska’s salmon hatchery program will be quantified in numbers of salmon it produced for the common property fisheries.
This year, those numbers will be big in Prince William Sound, where better than expected hatchery returns met with an unexpectedly strong wild return to result in one of the Sound’s highest commercial harvests.
But the success of Alaska’s unique private, non-profit hatchery program can be measured in more than just numbers of returning salmon.
Like other fisheries management programs in Alaska, the genesis of the state’s revolutionary salmon enhancement program benefited from lessons learned elsewhere and the keen awareness that Alaska’s salmon stocks still had vast, healthy habitat.
In Washington, the legendary Columbia River salmon...
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