Thriving salmon farming in Alaska

Tor-Eddie Fossbakk The Cordova Times recently reported that the bountiful return of hatchery salmon stocks in 2007 proved to be a boon for both the Prince William Sound commercial fishing fleet and the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation (PSWAC). In an executive committee meeting earlier this month, Dave Reggiani, the president of PSWAC, reported that revenue projections for fiscal year 2008 could wind up close to USD 1.5 million, according to the newspaper. Increased salmon prices and sales during egg take, coupled with an already budgeted surplus and a decrease in expenses, accounted for the sizeable surplus. PWSAC also met its USD 11 million contingency goal for cash reserves last year. Of the 51,459,927 pink salmon harvested in 2007 in Prince William Sound, the combined regional hatcheries were able to contribute 41,487,681 pinks to the overall catch. The hatcheries were also responsible for producing 2,358,966 of the 2,463,978 chums harvested in 2007. The Gulkana and Main Bay hatcheries contributed 913,255 sockeyes to this year's catch numbers. Forty-five full-time employees, including the six full-time employees in the Cordova office, staff the PWSAC. The goal of the aquaculture corporation, a nonprofit founded in 1974, is to organize five hatcheries to enhance commerce harvest levels and offset Sound fisheries from cyclical weaknesses associated with wild salmon returns.