Nine Alaska-outdoor-sporting organizations have signed an emergency petition to the Alaska Board of Fisheries seeking a delay in implementation of the recent actions (April 19, 2018) taken by the Prince William Sound (PWS) Regional Planning Team to amend hatchery-management plans to allow for an increase in the number of pink salmon eggs taken by 20 million, until adequate consideration can be given to all the issues associated with the change.
In declaring a need for an emergency petition to pause further action to expand the capacity of hatchery pink salmon production, the sporting groups wrote, “It is certainly unforeseen and unexpected by the public that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the state agency charged with stewardship of the state’s salmon resource, would agree to an amendment of the Annual Management Plans for Private Non-Profit Hatcheries in Prince William Sound, providing for a substantial increase in the taking of pink salmon eggs (20 million) when up to 70 percent of all pink salmon sampled on spawning streams of Lower Cook Inlet in 2017 were of Prince William Sound hatchery origin.”
A stream jammed with spawning pink salmon. Alaska conservation groups are opposing more stocking of hatchery pink salmon as a threat to other salmon species.
In Alaska, state law mandates that hatcheries shall operate without adversely affecting natural stocks of fish, requiring that the effects and interactions of introduced or enhanced salmon stocks on wild salmon stocks be assessed and that wild stocks be protected from adverse impacts from any enhancement efforts. In addition to straying issues observed in Lower Cook Inlet, recent scientific publications have provided cause for great concern over the biological impacts associated with continued release of very large numbers of pink salmon fry into the North Pacific Ocean.
In 2016, the total number of pink salmon eggs that were taken for rearing in PWS hatcheries was 740 million, and 643 million pink salmon fry of hatchery origin were released in the sound. The groups state that release of additional hatchery-produced pink salmon fry into the marine waters of PWS without a doubt threatens the biological integrity of wild stocks of pink salmon in Lower Cook Inlet, potentially adds to an already critical ocean-rearing situation and likely alters fishing patterns in the inlet in a manner that affects the traditional allocation of the salmon resource without consultation with the Alaska Board of Fisheries.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries next meets for a one-day teleconference beginning at 9:00 a.m., Monday, May 14, 2018, when this emergency petition may be acted upon.
About KRSA:
KRSA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit fishery-conservation organization of Alaskans that works to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of fish resources in the Kenai River and elsewhere in Alaska, through advocacy of sport and personal-use fisheries and the promotion of science-based fish management.
# # #
