Hatcheries
Private nonprofit (PNP) salmon hatcheries produce salmon to enhance commercial, sport, subsistence, and personal use fisheries. There are twenty-five PNP hatcheries operating in the State of Alaska, spanning from Kodiak to Southeast Alaska.
PWSAC operates four remote hatcheries in the Prince William Sound (PWS) and one inland on the Gulkana River:
All five species of salmon are currently produced: pink, chum, coho, sockeye, and Chinook.
The Armin F. Koernig Hatchery, converted from an abandoned salmon cannery in 1974, and the Wally Noerenberg Hatchery, built in 1984, are PWSAC-owned facilities. Cannery Creek, Main Bay, and Gulkana hatcheries are state-owned facilities.
PWSAC relies on a 2% salmon enhancement tax on the regional commercial salmon harvest and cost recovery revenues (selling a portion of the hatchery returning salmon) to fund its salmon enhancement activities. The returning salmon benefit Alaska’s commercial, sport, personal use and subsistence fishers, seafood industry, and communities throughout the state.
PWSAC hatcheries provide the State of Alaska and the seafood industry an extraordinary return on investment. A large volume of PWSAC salmon also stock Alaskan’s home freezers with healthy fish! The Gulkana Hatchery near Paxson is the largest sockeye hatchery in the world. Since 1999, it has supplied over 1 million fish to Alaskans who participate in personal use and subsistence fisheries. Residents of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough accounted for 73% of the harvest during that period.
You must be logged in to post a comment.