New battles coming on hatcheries, trawling

The Alaska Board of Fisheries concludes its 2025-26 meeting cycle with a five-day session starting tomorrow in Anchorage on statewide finfish and supplemental issues.

Among the more notable issues, a trio of proposals (170, 171 and 172) would constrain pink and chum production from salmon hatcheries. Two of the proposals are from the Kenai River Sportfishing Association.

Another trio of proposals (163, 164 and 165) would appear to make life tougher for trawlers. The proposals are from an organization called the Alaska Healthy Habitat Alliance.

Proposal 163 would define all trawls operating in state waters as bottom contact gear. Proposal 164 would "establish bottom contact monitoring requirements for pelagic trawl gear."

The Alaska Whitefish Trawlers Association hates these trawl proposals, commenting in a letter to the board:

There seems to be an assumption that trawlers operating in the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound regularly put their pelagic nets on the bottom. This is not accurate. The seafloor in the GOA and PWS are rocky, and our pelagic nets are relatively delicate. Contact with the bottom (or sunken shipwrecks) shreds our nets, requiring time-consuming and expensive repairs or replacement, and lost fishing time. On average a pelagic trawl net alone for our members costs $110,000, and we are not going to intentionally damage an expensive piece of gear.

'Trouble at Sea'

A documentary film titled "Trouble at Sea" is set to air at 7 p.m. tonight on Alaska Public Media TV.

The film "explores the ecological ripple effects of salmon hatcheries and asks Alaskans to engage in hard conversations about the future of our changing oceans," according to an online promo.

The hatchery industry already is firing back. Here's a statement from Salmon Hatcheries for Alaska.

Hatcheries not a problem for wild salmon, MSC says

A Marine Stewardship Council audit found that "hatchery enhancement activities are highly unlikely to have significant negative impacts on wild pink and chum salmon in Southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet."

Here's an MSC news release on the audit.

Board sinks hatchery proposal

The Alaska Board of Fisheries, meeting in Ketchikan, voted 5-2 against Proposal 156, which would have reduced pink and chum salmon production capacity by 25 percent at Southeast Alaska hatcheries.

The proposal, from Virgil Umphenour, drew widespread opposition from hatchery supporters including this group of legislators.

Board of Fisheries to weigh PWS proposals

The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting this week in Cordova to consider dozens of proposals for the Prince William Sound region.

Here are a few attracting our interest:

Proposal 16, from the Chenega IRA Council, would close the Prince William Sound pollock trawl fishery.

Proposal 43, from Cordova District Fishermen United, would establish a directed octopus fishery in Prince William Sound.

Proposal 73, from James Burton, and several other proposals deal with permit stacking in the salmon seine and driftnet fisheries.

Proposal 78, from Virgil Umphenour, would reduce Prince William Sound pink salmon hatchery production by 25 percent.

Juneau watch

The House Special Committee on Fisheries is set to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is expected to give a presentation on hatcheries.

The committee also is expected to take up House Bill 195, which would establish a buyback program for eastside Cook Inlet setnet permits.

More from Juneau

Here are a few more actions from the recently concluded Alaska legislative session.

• Legislators confirmed the governor's appointment of Thomas Carpenter, Floyd "Mike" Heimbuch and David Weisz to the Board of Fisheries.

• Glenn Haight was confirmed to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.

• Legislators passed House Bill 41, which could enable a shellfish "enhancement" industry akin to the Alaska's system of salmon hatcheries. The bill awaits the governor's signature.

Who needs a lobbyist?

Now that the Alaska Legislature has launched a new session, Deckboss decided to take a dive into state records to see who is employing a lobbyist this year.

A group called the Alaska Salmon Hatchery Alliance is paying power lobbyist Kent Dawson an annual fee of $60,000.

Records indicate the alliance includes the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., the Valdez Fisheries Development Association, the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, Douglas Island Pink and Chum Inc., the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, and the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association.

Here are some other fisheries organizations employing help in Juneau. We list the lobbyist or lobbying firm, and their fees.

• Pacific Seafood Processors Association, Legislative Consultants, $60,000

• Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Reed Stoops, $45,000

• Groundfish Forum, James Lottsfeldt, $42,000

• APICDA Joint Ventures, Jerry Reinwand, $40,000

• At-sea Processors Association, Legislative Consultants, $40,000

• Purse Seine Vessel Owners, Kent Dawson, $35,000

• Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, John Walsh, $35,000

• Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., John Walsh, $20,000

Sam Rabung named commercial fisheries director

Here's the press release.

Halt the hatcheries?

An organization called the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership is calling for a moratorium on North Pacific hatchery expansion until the risks to wild salmon populations can be ascertained. More here.

Can hatcheries help?

We've heard plenty about the poor Chinook salmon returns to some parts of Alaska in recent years.

One possible fix is to supplement wild runs with hatchery fish.

Here's a new report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that examines the idea. Recommendations are on page 14.

Hatching 'new tools' for media control in Cordova

Recently published research examining possible negative effects of hatchery salmon production on wild stocks generated quite a bit of publicity such as this.

Folks at Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., Alaska's largest hatchery operator, apparently didn't appreciate all the media attention.

And something will be done about it, according to this summary of PWSAC's May 23 executive committee meeting.

Here's the relevant part:

Chairman's Report (George Covel)
• Google Alerts — PWSAC uses this as a monitoring tool. Recently, over 30 news media stories have been posted on the internet about research conducted regarding the interactions of hatchery and wild salmon. Several of these are publications from ADF&G staff. Covel reported that ADF&G will put into place new tools to prevent this from happening again in the future. It is important for Department to clear this up. PWSAC is monitoring this along with Tracy Foster, Foster Communication Strategies.

Deckboss can hardly wait to ask the Alaska Department of Fish and Game exactly what sort of "tools" we're talking about.

Are hatchery salmon hurting our wild runs?

Deckboss regulars know we've occasionally touched on the topic of Alaska's prolific salmon hatcheries, and whether manufactured fish are having any detrimental effects on our purely wild runs.

This has long been a concern of some state biologists. Now it appears the state is taking steps to investigate the matter further.

The Department of Fish and Game has issued a request for proposals from "entities interested in conducting a research program to address interactions of wild and hatchery pink and chum salmon in Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska."

It's a pretty serious contract, worth up to $4.5 million.

Jump to page 27 of the 73-page RFP to read the very interesting "scope of work" to be performed.

On a related note, the Wild Salmon Center of Portland, Ore., today announced new research suggesting hatchery-raised salmon "can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat."

Legislature lavishes aquaculture industry with cash

Alaska is a state flush with billions of dollars in surplus oil revenue.

So it’s not unusual to see our legislators spend a good chunk of that money every year on capital projects — everything from road improvements to research equipment to artificial turf for high school football fields.

Deckboss reviewed the new capital budget the Legislature passed April 15 and couldn’t help but notice the sizeable sums awarded to the state’s hatchery operators, as well as shellfish growers.

Hatcheries are a huge factor in Alaska’s “wild” salmon harvests. The hatcheries pump millions of baby fish into the ocean, many to return as adult salmon that sustain commercial fleets and processors.

Legislators tend to notice industries employing thousands of people, so it’s no surprise to see some serious hatchery love in the capital budget.

It also helps to have a persuasive lobbyist in Juneau.

The Cordova-based Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., one of the state’s biggest hatchery operators, employed two lobbyists this year for a combined $75,000, state records show.

Another hatchery operator, Juneau-based Armstrong-Keta Inc., employed a lobbyist for $30,000, and the Ketchikan-based Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association paid its lobbyist $15,000.

Anyway, here is a list of aquaculture items compiled from the capital budget bill, which is headed to the governor for his signature — and for possible line item vetoes.

• Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association — hatchery equipment and deferred maintenance, $455,000

• Crystal Lake Hatchery — deferred maintenance, $650,000

• Metlakatla Indian Community — design and construction of chum hatchery, $500,000

• Metlakatla Indian Community — net pens and hatchery improvements, $150,000

• Prince Of Wales Hatchery Association — hatchery equipment replacements and upgrades, $475,000

• Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association — Hidden Falls Salmon Hatchery, $1,237,000

• Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association — Medvejie Hatchery maintenance and facility improvements, $900,000

• Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association — Haines/Skagway spawning channels, $620,000

• Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. — Cannery Creek Hatchery, $5,263,000

• Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. — Main Bay Hatchery, $864,000

• Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association — Trail Lakes Hatchery, $1,025,000

• Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association — Tutka Bay Hatchery, $699,000

• Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery, $460,000

• Kachemak Shellfish Mariculture Association — oyster remote setting facility, $60,000

• Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association — Kitoi Bay Hatchery, $1,550,000

• Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association — Pillar Creek Hatchery, $909,000

• Alaskan Shellfish Growers Association — shellfish industry technical assistance grants, $30,000

For a map of hatchery locations around the state, click here.

Quite a fishy haul in state capital budget

Gov. Sean Parnell last week signed the fiscal 2012 capital budget, which totals more than $2.7 billion. Deckboss took a look and found quite a few items of interest to the fishing industry — items that survived the governor's veto pen. Here's a list, starting with the state department affiliated with each project.

• Commerce — Bristol Bay Borough, port expansion, $2,000,000

• Commerce — Cordova, breakwater extension and boat ramp, $1,400,000

• Fish and Game — Cordova, dock and uplands improvements, $650,000

• Commerce — Egegik, dock repair, $55,000

• Commerce — Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Mariculture Research Facility, $300,000

• Commerce — Kodiak Island Borough, Anton Larsen dock, $2,000,000

• Commerce — Kodiak Maritime Museum, Harbor Gateway Project, $298,000

• Commerce — Metlakatla Indian Community, Annette Island Packing Co. freezer expansion, $2,000,000

• Commerce — Prince of Wales Island, Alaska Oyster Cooperative, upgrade existing building to a shellfish processing facility, $106,500

• Commerce — Seward, Alutiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery upgrade, $250,000

• Commerce — Seward, CDQ fishing fleet relocation study, $400,000

• Commerce — Wrangell, boat yard improvements, $3,700,000

• Commerce — Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, Yukon River Chinook salmon management plan, $300,000

• Commerce — Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund program, $1,030,000

• Fish and Game — Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, $12,000,000

• Fish and Game — Pacific Salmon Treaty Chinook fishery mitigation, $7,500,000

• Commerce — Celebrate Seafood Inc., advancing a National Seafood Marketing Association, $200,000

• Transportation — Feasibility study, joint moorage facility for Alaska Marine Highway System ferries and NOAA research vessels, $500,000

• Public Safety — Marine fisheries patrol improvements, $2,000,000

• Fish and Game — Westward Region Didson sonar purchase, $105,000

• Commerce — Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, Trail Lakes Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $865,000

• Commerce — Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, Tustumena Lake smolt out-migration monitoring, $45,000

• Commerce — Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, Tutka Bay Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $591,000

• Commerce — Douglas Island Pink and Chum Inc., Snettisham Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $1,250,000

• Commerce — Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, Kitoi Bay Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $1,308,000

• Commerce — Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, lake nutrient enrichment project, $720,000

• Commerce — Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, Pillar Creek Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $767,000

• Commerce — Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, net pens and hatchery deferred maintenance, $707,800

• Commerce — Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, Hidden Falls Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $1,044,000

• Commerce — Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., nets pens and hatchery deferred maintenance, $426,000

• Commerce — Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., Cannery Creek hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $2,224,000

• Commerce — Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., Gulkana Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $838,000

• Commerce — Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp., Main Bay Hatchery maintenance and upgrade, $2,113,000

• Commerce — Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, net pens and hatchery deferred maintenance, $400,000