Private nonprofit (PNP) hatcheries have a long history of cooperative agreements with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). This is due in part because many of Alaska’s PNP hatcheries are still owned by the State of Alaska and operated by regional aquaculture associations and other PNP groups.
While this history is important, it’s tale for another time. This story focuses on the magic that happens when cooperation meets collaboration.
A new problem
Coho salmon—also known as silver salmon—returned lower than expected state wide this year, and many user groups struggled to fill their nets and freezers.
On August 21, ADF&G issued an emergency order restricting coho salmon possession and bag limits for Southcentral Alaska. On that day our crew at the Bear Creek Weir had passed 49 fish into Bear Lake. In 2023 and 2022 by the same date, zero fish had made it into the lake.
We were optimistic that escapement and brood goals could be met, even with the reduced saltwater catch limits. We began brood collection on September 9, 2024 and the Bear Lake escapement goal of 300 fish was met the very next day. Everything was on track for there to be enough cohos at the Bear Creek Weir to meet CIAA and ADF&G broodstock needs.
And then… we faced a new problem. Beginning on September 19 the number of fish making it to the weir decreased drastically, with many days of zero fish being collected. By October 1, 286 fish had been collected for broodstock, but only 22 of those were females.
In order to reach egg-take goals, CIAA needed 170 females and ADF&G needed an additional 100 females. Without the female numbers, there was concern about the future of the coho program.
Creative solutions
When faced with adversity, especially when fish returns are low, it can be easy to give up. This was not the mindset of CIAA staff, especially those at the Trail Lakes Hatchery.
When Ryan Schuman, Trail Lakes Hatchery Manager, posed the question, “Has brood ever been captured in the Seward Lagoon?” everyone ran with the idea.
We worked collaboratively with ADF&G sportfish staff and ADF&G PNP program coordinators to obtain a Fish Transport Permit (FTP) that would allow adult coho in the Seward Lagoon and surrounding area to be captured and transported via truck to the Bear Creek Weir. This FTP will remain active until 2028 in case a similar situation is encountered in the next few years.
Coming together
On October 10 we met ADF&G staff at Trail Lakes Hatchery to fill transport tanks with water and head to Seward Lagoon. Once everyone was at the lagoon, we created a game plan.
The majority of the combined ADF&G and CIAA staff headed to the lagoon outflow to capture any fish holding in the channel, and net off the culvert to prevent any fish from leaving the lagoon. The rest of the staff stayed at the lagoon to survey for schools of coho.
Once all the fish were captured in the channel, and two truckloads of fish were transported to the Bear Creek Weir, we shifted our focus to seining in the lagoon. Seining proved to be more fruitful, and it was all hands on deck. Several members of the Seward community stopped by to watch and eagerly jumped in to lend a hand when they saw the opportunity.
By the end of the day, we had captured 85 females and 192 males.
Future plans
While the cooperation and collaboration displayed by both CIAA and ADF&G staff is nothing new, the outward results are not always so tangible. Often collaboration comes in the form of funding projects, or sending a technician or two out to help at a remote site. The effort in Seward was larger than anything in the recent past, and this collaboration sets the stage for larger projects in the future.
A huge thank you goes out to all of the ADF&G staff that drove down from Anchorage to help with the seining, and those that stayed behind in the office and tackled the permitting.
