Salmon Enhancement Program 2009 Annual Report by

Abstract

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game oversees and regulates all state and private sector salmon enhancement and rehabilitation projects. Protection of Alaska’s natural salmon stocks requires stringent permitting processes. Geneticists, pathologists, and biologists review all projects prior to the issuance of a permit to operate a salmon hatchery, transfer eggs or fish, or release any fish into Alaska waters. Pathology, genetic, coded wire tag, and otolith processing laboratories are maintained to provide information to both Alaska Department of Fish and Game fishery managers, and inseason and technical expertise to the private sector. In 2009, hatchery operators collected over 1.7 billion eggs and released over 1.4 billion juvenile fish. An estimated 45 million adult salmon from enhancement projects returned. The preliminary total statewide commercial salmon harvest was 162 million fish. There were approximately 148 million salmon harvested in the common property commercial fishery, and an estimated 28 million, or 19%, were produced by the Alaska salmon enhancement program. Enhanced salmon provided an estimated $62 million or 18% of the exvessel value of the statewide common property commercial harvest. The ocean ranching program employs hundreds of Alaskans in seasonal and fulltime jobs.