NSRAA has been keeping the chinook program going at Little Port Walter since 2020 when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stopped collecting eggs at the site. NSRAA general manager Scott Wagner says that his organization stepped in to help by using its Hidden Falls Hatchery permit, and shuttling eggs and fry the 64 miles between the two locations.
The broodstock for Little Port Walter come from the Keta River and were being reared experimentally in a joint effort between NOAA’s Auke Bay Laboratory and the state. Wagner says NSRAA was interested in further developing Keta River chinook, and integrating them into their overall program.
“Fish & Game and NOAA started that program, maybe a decade ago, and it was just starting to show good signs of progress,” Wagner said. “And then that (Keta River) stock also tends to be an inside-rearing king salmon stock. So those will be harvested more in the winter troll fisheries. And additionally (Keta) tends to be a larger bodied stock, so slightly larger per-fish pounds that the fisherman receive when they harvest those.”.
NSRAA has applied for an “Aquatic Resources” permit to manage the Little Port Walter chinook program on site, saving time and money transporting eggs and fry between that location and Hidden Falls. The permit application won unanimous approval of the Southeast Regional Planning Team at its April meeting in Sitka. It will have to go to the Commissioner of Fish & Game for final approval.
Aquaculture section chief for ADF&G, Garold “Flip” Pryor, says the application was largely unopposed, and met the basic criteria for the commissioner’s approval – namely, the location of Little Port Walter on the southern tip of Baranof Island puts it far enough away from Southeast’s mainland rivers, which can be more sensitive to comingling of hatchery stocks.
“So we tend to be a little bit more lenient on issuing permits in a non sensitive zone than a sensitive zone,” said Pryor. “If it’s (the proposed hatchery program is) in a sensitive zone, then one of the requirements is to use the closest broodstock available. And so in this case, at the south end of Baranof Island there’s not a lot of spawning of chinook salmon near there. I think the Farragut River is the nearest and it’s over 50 miles away.”
At that range, Pryor says, the documented “straying” of hatchery-produced kings is significantly reduced.
The minutes of the Southeast Regional Planning Team did note one concern over potential straying. Chris Guggenbickler, the gillnet representative on the board of the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, contended that fish from both Little Port Walter and Hidden Falls Hatchery had been identified in the Stikine and Taku rivers. He wrote, “Maybe this fall I can have someone tell me what an acceptable level of straying is, whether it comes from a sensitive zone or a non-sensitive zone.” Guggenbickler urged ADF&G to take a close look at the possibility of straying.
If its permit wins approval, the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association is hoping to increase chinook releases at Little Port Walter, and improve the availability of king salmon during the winter and spring troll fisheries.
Unlike its other projects, under an Aquatic Resources permit NSRAA will not be allowed to harvest and sell fish itself – a process known as cost recovery. Any kings that make it back to the hatchery and are not recovered for broodstock will unfortunately be wasted. NSRAA manager Wagner says this could potentially run to thousands of fish. In lieu of cost recovery, NSRAA has received some federal Pacific Salmon Treaty mitigation funding to pay for the program.
For Wagner and the NSRAA board, saving Little Port Walter was really a matter of not losing a chinook program, in an area where chinook have been important historically. He believes people have been working with kings in the Little Port Walter area since the 1930s. He said, “It would be a shame to see that all go away.”
