Continuation and more in-depth look into Chapter 4 of The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon. See here for the introduction and the summary of the first few pages of the report.
The first-half of the hatchery process can be broken down into the following:
- Broodstock Management: Here, biologists pull eggs and sperm from wild salmon stocks
- Fertilization, hatching, of eggs
- Raise fry
- Further fry/fingerling development: Alevin->fry(begins feeding)->fingerlings (>5g)
- Smolt Production: Fingerling->smolts through smoltification (changes in organs, morpho+physiological+behavioral characteristics)
On page 46 of the book, Fig. IV-I shows the trends of salmon catches before and after Alaska implemented the Alaska Salmon Enhancement Program, which provided state support for the construction and maintenance of salmon hatcheries principally in southeast AK and the Prince William Sound).
On page 48, there is a wonderful section that paints the challenges hatcheries faced exactly 10 years ago in 2005.
Challenges for Hatcheries:
Hatcheries have benefited certain regions of AK (SE, PWS) but not equally across all regions because of the decline in the price of pink and chum salmon. This lowered price drives hatcheries to catch more salmon to make up for the costs of hatchery operating costs (called the cost-recovery catch). This increased cost-recovery catch by hatcheries takes away form the available catches for fishermen who provide direct support for hatcheries in politics. In addition, hatcheries have loans that need to be repaid to the state.
- Roe Salvaging: Involves taking salmon roe (eggs) and discarding the rest of the carcass
- Leads to public outcry in seasons of high return (for example, 2003) because tons of salmon carcasses are wasted and dumped
- Leads to questions about the need for hatcheries
- Leads to public outcry in seasons of high return (for example, 2003) because tons of salmon carcasses are wasted and dumped
- Farmed salmon effects on genetic diversity of wild stocks
- Diminishing image of “wild salmon” for AK salmon possibly hurting the value of the product
My Questions:
- what is the optimal output for hatcheries to get a good price of salmon that covers hatchery costs and benefits fishermen?
- how have global salmon supplies affected price in salmon in the USA
- roe salvaging: should we move hatcheries in AK from the SE/PWS area to reduce the chances of overflowo returns centered in a few areas?
- in moving these hatcheries, should we put them near artificial rivers or those without existing salmon present?
- Is it possible then to have specific ranched salmon streams/rivers to fish from
- in moving these hatcheries, should we put them near artificial rivers or those without existing salmon present?
Conclusions from Chap. 4:
- the debate over hatcheries isn’t well understood widely outside of AK
- So could my concentration outline benefits to this situation?
- there is a lack of research of farmed/ranched salmon effects on wild salmon at the time this report was written in 2005
- What does recent research since 2005 reveal then? Let’s find out!