Three proposals related to fish hatcheries failed to pass on March 21 at the Alaska Board of Fisheries’ statewide meeting. Although none of the changes to hatcheries passed this time, the Board is discussing changes to the production of hatchery pink and chum salmon in the future.
The Board voted four to three to take no action on Proposal 172, which would have placed a moratorium on all of the hatcheries in the state. That would prevent the hatcheries from upping the amount of eggs they can take from pink and chum salmon in the future.
A few board members, including member Tom Carpenter, spoke in favor of the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game enacting something like this proposal in the future.
“I'm not in favor of the direction of this proposal," Carpenter said. "I am interested in the concept, and that's why I brought this idea up.”
Proponents of this moratorium argue that hatchery fish could be competing with wild salmon for limited resources. That could potentially be causing species like Chinook or king salmon to decline. Fish and Game research agrees that there is a possibility that this is happening.
Research from several different studies has also found that hatchery chum and pink salmon stray from their home streams more than other species. This allows them to interbreed with wild populations. Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association director Tina Fairbanks said that hatchery salmon may not pass on good genes when bred with wild salmon.
“That information is still coming out, but they have determined that for hatchery strays in the wild in the first generation, there is reduced relative reproductive success," she said. "That means hatchery pink salmon, spawning in the wild, produce about half as many offspring as wild stocks spawning in the wild.”
The Department of Fish and Game recommends that no more than 2% of hatchery fish should be straying in the Prince William Sound in order to preserve the genetics of wild fish. But Fish and Game scientist Bill Templin told board members that this number was closer to 5-15% from 2013 to 2015.
The department’s biologists said at the board meeting that they did not think there was enough clear evidence that hatchery fish actually hurt wild salmon populations.
Board members were split. The data presented at the meeting on March 21 was over ten years old, and some members wanted to wait for updated information.
“I am struggling to be able to commit to a reduction right now," said Board member Olivia Henaayee Irwin. "But that does not mean that I don't think that there are adverse effects of hatchery straying, us not having reasonable segregation established. We need to clean up this process.”
Irwin wasn’t sure what that would look like, but emphasized that the board needs more information sooner rather than later.
According to Fairbanks, who oversees the Kodiak Island hatcheries, the science indicating that hatchery fish are not having an impact on wild populations outweighs the science indicating that they do. She said that other factors, like warming waters, are playing a bigger role in the downward spiral of King salmon populations.
“We believe that there's a great deal of science that shows that competition between Alaska hatchery pink salmon and Chinook or other species is not likely to be a major driver of the trends that are being laid at the feet of hatcheries," she said.
Fairbanks said that if the board ever passes a proposal like Proposal 172, it could have big consequences for commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen in the Kodiak region.
“Their lives and their livelihoods are really up for grabs when some of these proposals come through," she said. "So being able to make sure that people understand your fishery or how important economically or culturally these resources are is imperative.”
Board members said they hope that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists will take the lead on this issue going forward. The department’s commissioner, Doug Vincent Lang, told the board that he has already reduced the amount of hatchery fish that are released in some areas of the state, like Crawfish Inlet near Sitka. Lang said he’s ready to take a deeper look into the impacts of a reduction like this in Prince William Sound.
“I think there may be one or two hatcheries that we need to take a good close look at and find out whether we're having unacceptable stray rates, and you have my commitment doing that moving forward," he said.
The Board of Fisheries is tentatively scheduled to meet for a work session in October. It is unclear whether they will discuss hatcheries at this meeting.
In the meantime, stakeholders like Fairbanks are once again playing the waiting game.
