August 21, 2023, by Lisa Teas Conaway

Our hatchery crew is hard at work collecting Pink Salmon that have returned home.

Every year the baby salmon we release complete their adult stage of life swimming in the deep blue Pacific Ocean. The now mature salmon, who are not caught by fishermen, find their way back home to spawn and seed the next generation.

But before we start collecting eggs to fertilize, we conduct cost recovery. This often means contracting with a seining boat to sell the returning salmon at market. This year due to low salmon prices we are also collecting salmon eggs to sell. Once harvested the eggs will be processed and turned into fine Alaska Salmon Caviar. All male and female carcasses will be sold and processed into very nutritious pet food.

Sitka Sound Science Center, like other hatcheries depends on cost recovery fishing to sustain its operation. This year’s low salmon prices make that challenging. We commiserate with our commercial fishermen partners the hardships caused by low prices.

Learn more about our hatchery or help support Sitka Sound Science Center.