July 20, 2021, by admin

As we at the Sheldon Jackson Hatchery prepare for the salmon to return to Crescent Bay for spawning, we are also watching for an ideal time to begin cost recovery. Cost recovery is the primary method whereby hatcheries recover their costs associated with producing hatchery salmon. These costs include fish food, formalin treatments, and operation costs. Typically, the first part of a hatchery salmon return is harvested for cost recovery, then once that hatchery expense is covered the remaining fish are available to the commercial common property fisheries. The Hatchery staff watch very closely to estimate when the ideal time for fishermen to make a set while being careful not to completely deplete the run and allowing enough brood stock into the hatchery raceways for spawning. The SJ Hatchery works with a local sein fisherman to harvest returning fish in a collaborative partnership.