Alaska Salmon Fisheries Enhancement Annual Report 2022

This annual report reviews Alaska’s salmon fisheries enhancement program. This program’s success is attributable to the development of statutes, regulations, and policies that require hatcheries to be located away from important natural salmon stocks and to use local broodstock sources. To maintain genetic diversity, Alaska hatcheries do not selectively breed for size or other traits and use large numbers of broodstock. Most hatchery releases are marked so that fishery managers can estimate the strength of wild stocks in the harvest inseason and manage wild stocks conservatively. Hatchery production is intended to supplement—not replace—wild stock production. Harvests in 2013, 2015, and 2017 were 3 of the 4 highest wild stock salmon harvests dating back to the late 1800s. Abundance-based wild stock management priority, habitat protection, and record wild stock harvests reflect the state’s commitment to conservation of wild stocks and provide the foundation of its salmon fisheries enhancement program. Currently, 30 salmon hatcheries are operating in the state. Twenty-six facilities are operated by private nonprofit (PNP) corporations, which are funded primarily from the sale of a portion of hatchery returns. Of these, 11 are state owned and operated by PNPs on the state’s behalf at no cost to the state. Non-PNP operated hatcheries include two sport fish hatcheries operated by the state, one research hatchery operated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, and one hatchery operated by the Metlakatla Indian Community under federal regulation. In 2022, the commercial fleet caught 40 million Alaska hatchery-produced salmon worth an estimated $163 million in exvessel value. Hatchery fish contributed 25% of the statewide commercial salmon harvest and 23% of the statewide commercial harvest exvessel value. Additionally, 168 thousand hatchery fish were caught in sport, personal use, and subsistence fisheries. In preparation for future production, Alaska hatcheries took 2.1 billion salmon eggs and released 1.9 billion juvenile salmon.