Sustainable Salmon Harvest

Alaska Manages Best Sustainable Salmon Fishery

There are five species of wild Alaska salmon: sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka), king or chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), chum (Oncorhynchus keta), and pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). Alaska salmon are anadromous, meaning they grow in the ocean, and spawn in the rivers. Salmon spawn only once in their lives.

Salmon return to their natal stream to spawn, passing through enclosed bays and shallow water, on their way to the upriver spawning grounds. Alaska’s fishery managers take advantage of the anadromous behavior of salmon. They observe and count the fish, and ensure that sufficient numbers of adult spawners escape the fishery, and swim up the rivers to spawn. Salmon also school tightly, and do not mix very much with other species of fishes. This means that commercial salmon fishing has virtually no incidental catch, or bycatch, of non-salmon fishes.

Alaska salmon are caught only in specific, tightly regulated areas within state waters up to three nautical miles offshore. They are harvested by fishermen, families, and Alaska Natives, many of whom are owner-operators, meaning they are independent businesses operating their own boats.

Every aspect of Alaska’s salmon fisheries is strictly regulated, closely monitored, and rigidly enforced. Alaska’s fisheries management system is well-crafted and has served well for almost four decades, as demonstrated by the sustainability of Alaska’s salmon harvests. The Alaska Board of Fisheries sets harvest policies, regulations, and allocations, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) conducts biological research, and enforces the Board’s decisions. The dominant goal is the harvest policy known as “fixed escapement”. This means that management’s first priority is to ensure that sufficient numbers of adult spawning salmon escape capture in the fishery in the ocean and are allowed to spawn in the rivers, thus maintaining the long-term health of the stocks. Escapement goals can be reliably achieved for each species, each stock, every year. All human uses of salmon, especially commercial fishing, are subordinate to this guiding principle. Because of the natural variability of environmental conditions such as El Niño, the total number of adult fish returning to spawn may vary. In order to maintain escapement, it is the commercial harvest that fluctuates from year to year.

Courtesy of Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute