Leaving Sitka

It is actually our third day of traveling and it is time to leave Sitka and board the Ocean Victory for our sea adventure. Before leaving, we visited the Salmon Hatchery.  It goes without saying, Salmon is a big industry for Alaska.  It is unfortunate that mankind will fish or hunt animals until they are near extinction.  Salmon suffered much the same fate, however the Alaskan government stepped in and gave them a helping hand.  At the hatchery, they have created an environment that is as close to the natural process of Salmon spawning as possible.

  Salmon are both salt and fresh water fish.  They begin their lives in fresh water, live in salt water through their adult lives and when it is time to spawn, they return to the fresh water where they were born.  So, the hatchery was placed where fresh water flows into the sound that is salt.  They simulated how the Salmon struggle to get up stream by building a series of “steps” that the fish must struggle to swim up, pretty ingenious I’d say.  Each of the different species of Salmon arrive to spawn at a different time in the season.  As they gather just outside the entrance to the “fresh stream”, you can see them rolling and jumping in the water trying to gain access.  They sample the females to see when they are ready to spawn.  You can stroke their bellies and if they are ready, the eggs are free floating inside.  Once the net that blocks the entrance is removed, they swim up the stream and jump up the steps in the same manner they do in the wild.

At the end of the steps, they are scooped from the water and euthanized by smacking them on the head with short, plastic bats.  Sounds inhumane but it is actually quick and painless. Next they take a knife and slit open her belly and the eggs flow out into a five gallon bucket.  The males are compressed to express the sperm into the full bucket and agitated to make sure all the egg get fertilized.  And that is that.  In the wild, the fish die once they spawn so killing them during the process is not unnatural. The dead fish are sold for pet food and other things as they are not good to eat once they begin the spawning process.  The fertilized eggs go to a series of tanks where they hatch and grow until they have reached the stage where they make a change to prepare themselves for salt water.  Then they are released.

It is quite the process.  In the wild, only 5-10% of eggs get fertilized and make it back to the ocean.  At the hatchery, 95-98% of them are fertilized and returned to the ocean.  Thus, the fish have made a remarkable comeback and the fishing industry is thriving. You may ask, isn’t this farming the fish?  No, because they follow the natural process and return them to the ocean where they eat their natural food and are a part of the circle of life.  With farming (which is illegal in Alaska) the fish are kept in captivity from spawn to table.  It was a very interesting visit and I came away with an appreciation of the work that goes into helping nature thrive.