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Published: August 11th 2012
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We went to the Solomon Gulch Hatchery here in Valdez. This was the first major project for the Vadez Fisheries Development Association which was organized by residents of Valdez after the bitter cold winter of 1971-72 all but devastated the commercial and sport salmon fisheries in Prince William Sound. Their goals are to produce an annual return of 10 million pink, 300,000 chum, 100,00 silver and 10,000 king salmon. The hatchery is licensed to incubate and rear to release size 230 million pink, 18 million chum, 2 million silver and 300,000 king salmon eggs. Pinks and silvers reached full production in 1987. The fish in the attached pictures are adult pink and coho salmon returning to the hatchery to complete their life cycle by spawning and dying. These fish were spawned, hatched and released from the hatchery. They have migrated from the Gulf of Alaska waters after spending over a year there growing to maturity. The adult salmon swim up the hatchery fish ladders(these are aluminum chutes with openings inside concrete troughs with water running downhill) to be "spawned". The eggs are taken from the female and are fertilized and placed into incubators. Each female yields about 1,700 eggs. As the
eggs develop, the embryo hatches out of its casing in about four months. The alevin or yolk sac fry wiggle down into plastic substrate and live off the remaining yolk until spring. The yolk sac is used up by spring and the fry swim out of the substrate. Fry spend about a month in salt water rearing pens where they're fed until release. Survival of adults back from fry released averages 4% for pinks, 10% for silvers and 2% for chums. Pinks and chums are produced primarily for commercial fishermen while silvers are targeted for sport fishermen. About 50% of returning adults are caught by commercial fishermen. Along with the information about the hatchery, there was information about the pink salmon. The pink salmon is also know as the "humpback" or humpy because of its very pronounced, laterally flattened hump which develops on the backs of adult males before spawning. It is called the "bread and butter" fish in many Alaskan coastal fishing communities because of its importance to commercial fisheries and thus to local economies. The pink salmon is the smallest salmon found in North America with an average weight of 3.5 to 4 lbs. and average length of
20-25 inches. Adult pink salmon in Alaska spawn in home streams between July and September. Shallow riffles where flowing water breaks over coarse gravel and downstream pools are favorite spawning areas. The female carries 1,500 to 2,000 eggs depending on her size. She digs a nest with her tail and releases the eggs into the nest. They are immediately fertilized by one or more males and then covered by further digging action of the female. This process is repeated several times until all the female's eggs have been released. After spawning, both males and females soon die, usually within 2 weeks. Sometime during early mid-winter, eggs hatch. The alevins or young fry feed on the attached yolk to grow and develop. In late winter or spring the fry swim up out of the gravel and migrate downstream to salt water. By fall at an age of l year, juvenile salmon are 4 to 6 inches long and are moving into the ocean feeding grounds in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands areas. I thought this was interesting as to how the hatchery tries to imitate nature.
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