June 16, 2023, by Lisa Teas Conaway

LOTS of fish were released in May by the hatchery crew! 

The second half of the brood year 2021 coho were released at the beginning of the May with Stacy Golden’s Field Science class from Sitka High School. The students climbed into the green round pounds and swept the coho smolts down the pond drains that lead into the channel. Soon after, the brood year 2022 pinks and chums were also release. The pinks ended up weighing 1.8 grams at release and the chums weighed around 1.9 grams upon release. On top of the pinks, chums, and coho, the crew also released the 300,000 NSRAA chinook salmon that had been in their care for the last 3 weeks as part of a release site program. The hatchery receives chinook every spring from Medvejie for a few weeks until they are acclimated to the salt/fresh water mix in from of the science center. This will allow them to return to these waters as adults.

Community Releases Coho at the Annual Salmon Release Party

We were lucky to have a brief pause in several days of rain to host our annual salmon release party and release the last of our fish! Many community members of all ages attended to release coho that the hatchery team raised from eggs collected back in the fall of 2021. Participants could name their coho smolts and cheer them on with an array of signs as they entered the ocean on Sage beach. Everyone enjoyed hamburgers and hotdogs from the grill, root beer donated by Harbor Mountain Brewery, and s’mores at a beach bonfire!

Brood Year 2022 Coho Ponded

We may have released over 6.5 million fish in total in the month of May, but that doesn’t mean there are no more to take care of! A couple of weeks after releasing, the hatchery crew ponded the brood year 2022 coho into 4 troughs in the basement of the Sage building. These coho fry are living and growing happily in the troughs-for now. By the end of June, they should be out in the green round ponds.

Transfer Line Removed

The crew could not rest on their laurels for long! After the release, they needed to retrieve the transfer line from the water. This line is a series of long pieces of 4-inch hose and poly pipe connected together that is used to transfer the pinks and chums from the incubation room to the net pens in late winter/early spring. It is kept in the water throughout the duration of the season in order to supply fresh water to the fry for imprinting. Now that all of those fish are gone, it was time to pull that line out of the water and store it away until next year.