SMOLTS. The arrival of spring brings more daylight and warmer temperatures, Great survival and size marks spring stocking. Inside

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1 The Newsletter of the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association Great survival and size marks spring stocking The arrival of spring brings more daylight and warmer temperatures, which are two of the main triggers for fish migration from the lakes and streams. For those working in the hatcheries it means it is time for the stocking and release of the fish that have been rearing in the facilities. Pink salmon are the first to emerge from their incubators and are anxious to take their first feeding at the net pens. Both Port Graham and Tutka Bay Lagoon hatcheries saw the first lot transfer to their respective net pen locations on March 8. The remainder of the lots followed with the final lot transferred to the net pens on April 8 (Port Graham) and May 3 (Tutka). Nearly 1.3 million pink salmon fry were released May 27 from Port Graham. These fish will be over 1 gram (gm) at the time of release. For Tutka, approximately 11 million pink salmon fry ranging from 1 2 gm are scheduled for release on June 2 and 4. Adults from these releases will return in Issue 77 Spring/Summer 2016 Next scheduled for stocking are the smolts that have been overwintering at Trail Lakes Hatchery. The Bear Lake stock sockeye smolt are destined for short-term rearing in net pens in Resurrection Bay and the English Bay Lakes stock sockeye smolt will be short-term reared at Tutka Bay Lagoon. Weighing sockeye smolt before transport, Trail Lakes Hatchery, This is also the time for the hatchery crew to shake off the winter doldrums with their first spring workout program. Currently, all fish are transferred to waiting transport trucks by hand using dip nets and this year saw some of the best survivals and fish sizes at transfer adding more deliveries for each group. For Tutka Bay Lagoon, approximately 537,000 sockeye smolt at 8.55 gm (4,591 kilograms or 10,101 pounds) were transferred on April 6, 7, and 8. For Resurrection Bay, approximately 1.69 million sockeye smolt at 8.85 gm (14,957 kilograms or 32,904 pounds) were transferred between April So over a two-week period, staff handled over 43,000 pounds of fish! Future plans are for a fish pump to minimize some of the back-breaking work. Not only was this a record breaking year in terms of size, the loss of fish during the two transfers were also one of the lowest with only 3,700 mortalities recorded between the two transports. The sockeye were released on May 23 and 24 at both locations. Size at release is expected to be around 15 gm or more. These fish will return as adults in 2018 and Stocking Hidden Lake, Photo courtesy of Dakota Edin. See page 3, SPRING STOCKING Inside Board member profile: Christine Brandt Page 2 Education and outreach Page 2 Executive Director s message Page 3 New housing Page 5 Hatchery impacts study Page 6 BOD update Page 7 Returns Page 7 Staff highlights Page 7 PRSRT STD US Postage PAID Anchorage, AK Permit # Field Season Page 4 Community perspective Page 5

2 Issue 77 PAGE 2 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Board member profile: Christine Brandt Board member Christine Brandt is passionate about many things, but one of her greatest passions is simply walking the beaches of Cook Inlet and collecting agates. Agates are formed from volcanic activity and due to the numerous volcanic eruptions around Cook Inlet over the years, these semi-precious gemstones are sprinkled all along the beaches. Agates have been used and regarded since ancient times wearing agates were thought to make one friendly, truthful, and persuasive. Given that Christine is one of the most thoughtful and outgoing members of the board, it is no wonder she has such an affinity for agates. Christine came to Alaska as a nine-year old child when her father, Toby, was transferred to Nikiski for his job. A few years later when Christine was a teenager, the family was again transferred to Singapore. Christine spent nine months there, which ended when Toby lost his life in a work accident in Indonesia. Christine s family returned to Alaska, where Christine graduated from Kenai Central High School and married her high school boyfriend, Gary Koski. It was Gary that got Christine into commercial set netting in Cook Inlet. His family has been commercial fishing in the area since the 1960s. Their marriage and Gary s vocation collided the day after Christine got married. As Christine told it, We got married on a Saturday in July, and then they started fishing on Sunday. I did not see Gary for three weeks and our wedding presents were just sitting there. My mother was kind of pressuring me to open them, so I did, and then felt horrible about it! He was disappointed that I did not wait for him. Christine and Gary started a family in the late 1980s with the birth of their first son Brian (also her alternate on the board), followed by another son Keary, and daughters Cathrine, and Laura. Christine began set netting in the early 1980s and by 1992 she had her own commercial permit and lease, which she currently still holds and fishes. I love to fish, it is dangerous and hard work, but I love accomplishing something at the end of the day she said. In addition to commercial fishing, Christine has embarked in a number of other endeavors such as owning her own travel agency in Soldotna and working for Representative Mike Chenault as an aide. She likes diversity in her work and her volunteer service. I like to keep my mind busy. I need to learn new things all of the time. That is one of the reasons I stay busy on boards, because I am always learning. Because of all the changes she has witnessed in the commercial industry, Christine started to get more involved in fisheries issues in the late 1990s when she joined the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen s Association Board of Directors. Education and outreach Above Board member Christine Brandt spoke of the value of reaching out to young children for salmon education. Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association seeks out opportunities to engage the little folks, including a May tour of the Port Graham Hatchery by students from Fireweed Academy in Homer and Port Graham School. This provided both our new hatchery manager, Peter Thompson, and the kids a chance to interact and talk about all things salmon! In April, CIAA was delighted to host a high school senior from River City Academy, Dakota Edin, as he performed a job shadow to complete required credits and to also have the opportunity to see different jobs available after high school. Dakota assisted Trail Lakes Hatchery staff as they stocked Hidden Lake with sockeye salmon fry. Although Dakota plans to pursue photography and film as a career, by going along with the stocking crew, he made the connection that in photography he might end up in any number of scenarios and jumping into a skiff with Moose Pass staff was real on the job training, said his Social Studies teacher, Annaleah Karron. Please contact CIAA (contact information on page 8) if you are interested in a hatchery tour or other activities as coordinating a job shadow. We host many tours at our various hatcheries and are usually able to accommodate requests made in advance. Christine is also a member of the Kenai/ Soldotna Fish & Game Advisory Committee. Over the years, she has attended Christine Brandt, Director and testified at five Board of Fisheries meetings. Christine is a passionate advocate for sharing the salmon resource in the Cook Inlet watershed and she is committed in her volunteer efforts to support that position. Christine has also been a volunteer for other organizations including the Alaska Jr. Miss Program, Special Olympics, and the newly-organized Cook Inlet Revitalization Association. In 2009, Christine was first seated on the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association (CIAA) Board of Directors, as one of the five Inlet Wide Commercial Fishing Representatives. These representatives must be Area H limited entry salmon permit holders, and they are elected by the other permit holders. She ran for this seat because she believes CIAA has good programs in place not only the hatchery programs, but also, and more importantly to Christine, the programs designed to preserve and protect salmon habitat and provide education and outreach. When she is in a board meeting, Christine considers all the view points and puts her own personal agenda aside in support of the CIAA mission. In considering her time serving with CIAA, Christine points to projects such as the northern pike suppression in the Susitna watershed, the building of the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery Program, and the reopening of the Paint River Fish Ladder as CIAA successes. She added, The Tustumena Smolt Out Project has been a huge success for fishermen because it has collected important data that may be used to see trends and answer fisheries questions. We can t predict the future, weather, or runs, but we can protect the runs, and this sort of data collection is important to help us adapt with the changes we are seeing in run timing, and other changes. Educating a younger generation is also essential to Christine and she sees this as one of CIAA s biggest opportunities to engage children in learning about how vital salmon are to Alaskans. The younger the better; a small child has the ability to open the eyes of their parents when sharing things the child has learned. Dakota Edin assisting in the sockeye salmon stocking at Hidden Lake, Photo courtesy of Dakota Edin.

3 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Issue 77 Executive Director s message: the only thing constant is change Earlier this year I had the opportunity to participate in a three-day training workshop on Climate Adaptation for Coastal Communities. The workshop, held in Homer, was well attended and taught by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration s (NOAA) Office of Coastal Management in partnership with University of Alaska s Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Kenai Peninsula College. During the workshop I also attended a public lecture by Dr. Terry Johnson from the Alaska Sea Grant program titled Climate Change and Alaska Fisheries. The workshop and lecture focused on changing weather patterns, how these patterns affect our lives, and the need to be aware of environmental changes as we plan our future activities. Throughout the workshop there were several interesting discussions. A couple were directly related to issues CIAA may be faced with in the future. The Cook Inlet climate appears to be getting warmer. In the past global warming due to man s industrial activities was often cited as the cause of this potential environmental disaster. The truth is our winters appear to be shorter and warmer, but we don t all agree on who is responsible for the warmer weather we have recently observed. However, we do need to be aware of the effects of warmer winters and other environmental changes on Cook Inlet s salmon populations and think about our salmon enhancement projects with that in mind. One example of warmer ocean conditions has been affectionately referred to as The Blob. In the past we experienced occasional short-term warm periods referred to as an El Niño event and longer term cyclic warmer and cooler events referred to as the duo-decadal oscillation. The Blob is a much larger area of unusually warm water that has remained in the North Pacific Ocean for an exceptionally long period of time. A reduction in East Bering Sea ice, high mortalities of some bird and mammal species, an increase in small copepods and returns of some salmon species have been attributed to the Blob. Is this the trend of things to come; and, if so, what does it mean to Cook Inlet salmon? Dr. Terry Johnson, in his lecture on Climate Change and Alaska Fisheries, addressed ocean survival of salmon. He felt pink and chum salmon survivals Spring stocking continued from page 1 would be greater with warmer weather patterns. In southeast Alaska analyses suggest the size of juvenile pink and chum salmon entering the open ocean correlates with survival. In 2015 NOAA sampled juvenile salmon as they entered the open ocean from Icy Straight. They found the largest fish size on record suggesting pink returns in 2016 and chum returns in 2017 and 2018 could be strong. Gary Fandrei, Executive Director One of our goals in reopening the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery and operating the Port Graham Hatchery is to release bigger pink salmon fry. Due to improved fish culture and warmer water throughout the winter, we were able to release bigger pink salmon at the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery in 2014 and saw a strong return in The size of the pink salmon fry released in 2015 and scheduled for release this year is similar to our 2014 release. We have also received reports of good zooplankton populations in Kachemak Bay. We know juvenile salmon feed on zooplankton and the first couple of weeks of ocean life are critical to salmon survival. We are optimistic and hopeful our long-term pink salmon returns to Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery and Port Graham Hatchery will be good. Warm winter conditions have helped achieve bigger fish at release and may have increased the plankton population in lower Cook Inlet leading to our optimism. Unfortunately it is too early to have the same optimism for future long-term sockeye returns. Their life cycle is longer and relies on both fresh and salt water conditions; but, this year we raised and released healthy sockeye smolt into good ocean plankton populations. Whether you believe in global warming or not, we have been experiencing notably warmer winters and summers in Alaska. At CIAA, we are always looking ahead to adapt to changing conditions with the goal of sustaining salmon fisheries in the Cook Inlet region. The Bear Lake coho smolt followed similar suit and were transferred to the raceway at Bear Lake weir for short-term rearing on April 27 and 28. The 102,000 coho smolt averaged 16.7 gm and were released May 16. The coho smolt program is a joint operation between CIAA and the Seward Chamber of Commerce, which relies on the returning adults for their annual Seward Silver Salmon Derby. The smolt from this program will return as adults in With the departure of the sockeye smolt there is now room for the emerging fry from last year s (2015) eggtake efforts to move outside to the raceways for first feeding. Bear Lake sockeye for both the fry and smolt programs were transferred to raceways in late February. The fry (2.4 million) will be released into Bear Lake in late May or early June averaging over 0.5 gm. These fry will overwinter in the lake and migrate out in The fish destined for the smolt program (1.8 million) will overwinter in the hatchery until stocking in Resurrection Bay in English Bay Lakes sockeye are also transferred to the raceways in late April. This year, because of failure to collect sufficient eggs due to broodstock survival, only Kirschner Lake will be stocked in mid-june with 250,000 fry. There will be no stocking at Hazel or Leisure lakes, which will greatly impact the commercial and personal use fisheries in 2019 and The English Bay Lakes sockeye, which are allocated to the Tutka Bay Lagoon smolt program (550,000), will overwinter at the hatchery until release in The Hidden Lake sockeye are probably one of the easiest releases since fish are released right at emergence. There is no feeding at the hatchery. This year just over 1.2 million unfed sockeye fry averaging 0.09 gm were released at Hidden Lake on April 25 and 26. As with the other fry programs, these fish will overwinter in Hidden Lake and migrate as smolt in The final release is the Bear Lake coho fry. Approximately 450,000 coho fry averaging gm will be released in mid-june into Bear Lake. Another small group of 60,000 coho smolt for the Seward Chamber of Commerce will be overwintered in the hatchery until Once the last group has been released, staff have a short reprieve to clean and put away all the equipment from rearing and release. Then staff will get ready for the next crop of fish to enter the hatchery after the busy phase of broodstock collection and eggtakes beginning in July. PAGE 3

4 Issue 77 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Field season underway with new projects Every spring, CIAA operations start ramping up. In addition to the hatchery releases (page 1), there are other monitoring and hatchery projects that kick into full swing. This year CIAA is monitoring salmon smolt migrations at Hidden, Leisure, Bear, and Shell lakes; and returning adult salmon will be counted at Hidden Lake, Bear Lake, Shell Lake, and Paint River. Daily counts can be found on CIAA s website at Other usual projects and activities this time of year include monitoring flow control structures, taking limnological samples, and fertilizing select lakes. Below are a couple of new projects that CIAA is implementing this year. Paint River video weir To enumerate the returning pink salmon from last year s stocking of the Paint River system, this year CIAA plans to install a video weir. This weir marks another milestone in the long history of the Paint River Fish Ladder. Seasonal crew counting smolt, Hidden Lake, Paint River is located on the east side of the Alaska Peninsula in Kamishak Bay, lower Cook Inlet. The Paint River system, which enters Kamishak Bay over a 40-foot waterfall at tidewater, has never had a self-sustaining run of salmon but has long been recognized by both the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and CIAA as having significant salmon production potential. The task of realizing that potential became known as the Paint River Salmon Enhancement Project and had two broad components: 1) developing a means of overcoming the salmon migration barrier posed by the waterfall, and 2) developing the salmon runs the system would eventually host. In 1991, CIAA completed construction of a fish ladder to circumvent the falls at the mouth of Paint River. It is a maze of concrete channels that allow salmon to swim around the waterfall and spawn upstream. The ladder construction cost $2.6 million and was primarily funded with government grants. However, final completion of the ladder and development of the anadromous salmon runs were halted when the State of Alaska began to divest itself of its hatchery programs and CIAA redirected its financial resources to operate and maintain the State s hatchery program. With the financial health of the organization stabilizing, CIAA completed and opened the ladder in 2011 and has continued to open the ladder seasonally every year since then. By 2014, CIAA had documented the first salmon using the ladder. In 2015, CIAA followed through on the Paint River Salmon Enhancement Project by stocking just over one million pink salmon fry to the Paint River system. The pink salmon fry are expected to return as adult salmon this year, so in preparation, CIAA has constructed a video weir system to count the returning adults. Until CIAA has the financial resources and regulatory approvals to build a cabin to house staff at this remote facility, CIAA will be relying on a video weir to count the adults. Using guidance provided by the Kenai U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Field office, who have been leaders in designing and installing weirs in the state, CIAA staff constructed a video weir that will allow not only the counting of salmon using the fish ladder, but will also allow for species identification and the collection of length data. The video monitoring platform will be installed in early June. Staff will visit the site every couple of weeks throughout the season to retrieve data and maintain the system. This is an exciting project, in part because the goal is to document the return of the pink salmon, but also in part due to the potential of installing more video systems in areas around the Cook Inlet drainage in an effort to continue salmon monitoring in times of limited financial resources. Freshwater egg take at Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery The basis for any hatchery program is its broodstock. Each year adult pink salmon return to Tutka Bay Lagoon and CIAA captures a portion of these fish and places them into net pens for ripening and eventually an egg take to provide progeny for the next cycle of fish. The health of the broodstock is key to the fertilization and incubation success. Over the years, CIAA has struggled with broodstock health and survival largely due to the limitations of Tutka Bay Lagoon. During the low tide cycle there is minimal inflow into the lagoon. This situation combined with a large adult return, warmer water temperatures, and limited fishing opportunities impacts the rearing conditions within the lagoon, which detrimentally affects the broodstock quality and survival. Since 2013, CIAA has attempted to solve this problem by moving 80% of the fry rearing to outside the lagoon but have yet to receive an approved Department of Natural Resources (DNR) State Park s permit for the net pens needed. With no firm time frame for a decision from DNR, CIAA has decided to look at other options. This year CIAA will be moving forward with collecting broodstock directly from Tutka Creek rather than holding them in net pens in the lagoon. With some minor creek modifications, staff will construct a weir just below the pump house and will seine fish directly from the creek and conduct the eggtakes near the hatchery. With freshwater ripening and minimal delay between taking the gametes and fertilization, improvements are expected in the survival. Pink salmon escapement to Tutka Creek, PAGE 4

5 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Issue 77 Community perspective This issue s guest column was submitted by the Kenai Watershed Forum and authored by Kacy Krieger, Alaska Center for Conservation Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Mapping the Kenai s Water: How the Kenai Watershed Forum is improving stream and river mapping on the Kenai The diverse, complex, and rugged landscape of the Kenai Peninsula is a landscape defined by water. There are more than 6,000 miles of streams and rivers, thousands of lakes, ponds and waterbodies, and expansive glaciers found across the Peninsula. However, until recently, mapping of these water resources was inaccurate and in need of being updated to meet modern applications and requirements. The Kenai Watershed Forum is changing that. Working alongside partners, the Kenai Watershed forum is updating the surface water maps of the Kenai Peninsula using modern mapping techniques and new datasets. Updating the mapping of streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and other surface water features on the Kenai Peninsula is a significant contribution that will have a lasting impact for years to come. Current and accurately-mapped streams, rivers and lakes are essential for countless applications ranging from solving public and private property issues, to managing natural resources, to effective fish habitat management and conservation. However, on the Kenai Peninsula and throughout Alaska, agencies and organizations use less-than-accurate surface water mapping data that was originally created from 1950s-era USGS Historical Topographic Maps. A lot has changed in over the past 60 years. The existing surface water maps for the Kenai Peninsula contained many errors including streams mapped outside their actual channels, misrepresentations of flow direction, missing streams and lakes, incorrect location of the coastline, and poorly mapped lake shorelines. There is a pressing need to correct these issues and improve the surface water mapping to meet the needs of federal, state, and local groups and agencies. The Kenai Watershed Forum is playing a critical role in updating the surface water mapping by seeking and securing necessary funding to complete the project, overseeing mapping activities, providing project management, and offering local on-the-ground expertise and knowledge throughout the entire process. Advances in technology, and the availability of quality and accurate data, are key in this effort to map the Peninsula s surface waters. The Kenai Watershed Forum and its partners are taking advantage of the lidar dataset that was collected over the Peninsula in These high-resolution laser measurements of the earth s surface, along with new satellite and aerial imagery, advanced computing technology and familiarity with the landscape on the Kenai allow cartographers to map the streams, rivers, and lakes to levels of detail that previously weren t possible. Kenai Watershed Forum began the stream mapping project in 2012 with a preliminary round of updates and has since partnered with different groups to complete the project by the end of this year. Although the project will wrap up by then end of the year, there will likely be additional updates needed when major events change the flow of water or every few years. Efforts to update water mapping on the Kenai Peninsula have received extensive support from Kenai Watershed Forum partners. Various local entities have provided editing oversight and contributions to this project. The Forum received technical contributions from the Alaska Hydrography Database, St. Mary's University of Minnesota, the USGS and the Alaska Hydrography Technical Working Group. Kenai Watershed Forum is working directly with the Alaska Hydrography Technical Working Group on this project. This group oversees the maintenance, stewardship and use of updated mapping of Alaska's surface water resources. The group includes representatives from Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Land Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of Alaska. The USGS, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Multi State Conservation Grant through the Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership, and the Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership provided funding for this project. Once the updates are complete, the new data will be made publicly available in the National Hydrography Dataset. This authoritative national surface water mapping dataset for the entire United States is managed by the USGS. To download the data or learn more about surface water mapping and the National Hydrography Dataset, please visit New housing at Port Graham In 2014, CIAA completed a $2.8 million dollar renovation to its newly acquired Port Graham Hatchery. The next phase of the project was to provide housing for the hatchery staff in the village of Port Graham. In the fall of 2015, CIAA received bids for the construction and Byler Contracting was selected as the successful bidder. The on-the-ground construction began in late March 2016 and by end of April the two-story triplex providing three bedrooms and two baths per unit was framed, sided, and the plumbing and electrical was completed. Construction is expected to be completed and the units move-in ready by June 15, Below are some pictures showing the progression of the construction to date. From the old building, which was torn down to brand new housing for the Port Graham Hatchery staff. PAGE 5

6 Issue 77 PAGE 6 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Major study seeks to answer questions about hatchery impacts on natural salmon What are the possible impacts that hatchery salmon have on wild salmon stocks in Alaska? This important question is the focus of a major research effort underway to evaluate the interactions between hatchery and naturally-spawned salmon. The fishery enhancement program initiated by the State of Alaska in 1971 was designed to increase salmon harvests in response to severely depressed commercial salmon fisheries, while protecting wild stocks. From the outset, the State recognized and prioritized the protection of wild stocks, thus policies and regulations were adopted to mitigate potential negative effects on natural production from hatchery fish. For example, due to the innate tendency of salmon species to populate new areas, it was recognized that not all natural salmon return to their natal location and that hatchery stocks would stray to other rivers as well. Thus hatchery programs in Alaska are required to use local stocks as their brood source, which means that straying hatchery fish are less likely to alter the productivity of local populations. This is just one example of the policies and management tools in place to ensure naturally-spawned salmon remain the priority. Since the inception of the hatchery program over 40 years ago, Alaska has shown its ability to sustain wild salmon runs while at the same time allowing for the enhancement of fisheries. However, due to studies originating from areas other than Alaska, concerns about Alaska s hatchery-raised salmon adversely impacting wild stocks have been raised over and over again. For the most part, these studies are simply not applicable to Alaska. We do it differently than any other place in the world, said Sam Rabung, Section Chief of the Aquaculture Section, ADF&G. To illustrate this point, consider that most hatchery programs outside of Alaska were set up and/or continue to operate with the goal of replacing a fish stock or habitat that was lost. This requires practices that are not sanctioned in Alaska such as using nonlocal fish stocks for brood stock. Because of these ongoing concerns regarding straying in Alaska s salmon hatchery programs, a group of people began advocating for a study that was relevant to Alaska s hatchery program. In 2011, ADF&G organized a science panel composed of current and retired scientists from ADF&G, University of Alaska, aquaculture associations, and National Marine Fisheries Service. These scientists identified three priority research questions: what is the genetic structure of pink and chum salmon; what is the extent of straying and how much annual variation in there; and what is the impact on the productivity (fitness) of natural salmon due to straying of hatchery salmon. Based on this science panel discussion, a study plan was prepared by ADF&G, which encompasses an 11-year study on the interactions between hatchery fish and wild fish in salmon streams. This is the largest, systematic study in Alaska focused on hatchery wild interactions and is designed to improve the understanding of hatchery-wild interactions as well as providing Alaskaspecific scientific guidance for managing Alaska s hatchery program. The study is entitled Interactions of Wild and Hatchery Pink and Chum Salmon in Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska, and field research began in The study focuses on pink and chum salmon in these areas There have been several other smaller studies that have monitored the straying of hatchery salmon into natural systems in many areas of Alaska. An example from CIAA s own hatchery program is related to the Hidden Lake sockeye salmon enhancement project. Hidden Lake located in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge was first stocked by ADF&G in the 1970s. This project was taken over by CIAA in the late 1980s. The objective of this project has been to provide for an adult sockeye salmon escapement of 30,000 fish. As part of this project, CIAA has conducted an extensive straying study at Hidden Lake with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. This study, initially requested by the ADF&G, has been ongoing since 2000 and has focused on hatchery-raised sockeye salmon straying outside of Hidden Lake and straying within Hidden Lake. After 15 years of looking, not one Hidden Lake stocked fish has been found outside of Hidden Lake. The results of the straying study within Hidden Lake showed fish return to the beach they were released at, but could be found in other areas within Hidden Lake as well. More information on the Hidden Lake project can be found at because they are the largest hatchery programs. The research is focused on three main areas: Prince William Sound ocean sampling, Prince William Sound stream sampling, and Southeast Alaska Stream sampling. One of the first steps in the study was the collection of data to quantify the hatchery straying proportion of the pink and chum salmon in each region. The data collected between 2013 and 2015 show that from 1% to 5% of the pink salmon hatchery returns, and 1% to 4% of the hatchery chum salmon returns in Prince William Sound spawned in natural systems. Again, straying in and of itself is not a bad thing, and is expected with salmon. By quantifying the proportion of hatchery strays, the researchers can move onto the fitness studies, which should determine the potential relative difference in survival of offspring between hatchery and wild fish spawning in wild stock streams. The information coming out of the fitness studies will allow for an assessment of the ecological and genetic consequences of hatchery fish on the fitness of natural spawners at the drainage Although this is an 11-year study, funding is only in place for this upcoming fourth year of study (2016). Because the fitness component of the study is considered to be the most important piece to the long-term understanding of the hatchery wild interactions, a committee has been formed to pare down the program to primarily direct future research at the questions of fitness. To support this work, in addition to the State of Alaska s and processor s contributions (funding and in kind), seven of the largest hatchery corporations including CIAA have agreed to provide funding for this year and subsequent years. To date approximately $6 million has been spent on this study, not including an additional $1.2 million of in-kind match from ADF&G. The total cost is projected to be over $14 million, again highlighting the significant investment in this study. The project is expected to end in 2023 with the conclusion of the fitness analysis of chum salmon in Southeast Alaska. The study time line is so long due to the goal of evaluating two generations of offspring to identify parental origin (hatchery/wild) of returning fish 2018 will see two full generations of pink salmon and 2023 will see two full generations of chum salmon. The results from this study may support the conservative policies and practices put in place by the State of Alaska to allow for the enhancement of salmon fisheries, but not at the expense of wild stocks. The results may also point out where practices and policies need to be examined to ensure the protection of wild stocks. Gary Fandrei, CIAA s Executive Director, participated in a December 12, 2015 meeting where an update of the study was presented to an audience of over 40 scientists, fishermen, regulators, and others, including people from other countries. CIAA has long recognized the value of good salmon habitat and the importance of natural salmon production. How we conduct our hatchery programs is important not only to us, but to other parts of the world as well, said Gary, noting that this study is not only being followed closely in Alaska, but also on a national and international level. To learn more about this project and its progress, visit: alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishinghatcheriesresearch.main. CIAA staff collect otoliths from spawnedout sockeye salmon for the Hidden Lake Straying Study, 2015.

7 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Issue 77 Board of Directors update Officer election At the 39th Annual Board of Directors meeting, new officers were elected and committee assignments made. The newly elected officers and Executive Committee members are pictured below, from left to right: John McCombs, Elected Member, Christine Brandt, 1st Vice President Beaver Nelson, 2nd Vice President Jessie Nelson, Secretary Brent Johnson, President Dave Martin, Treasurer Not pictured, Mark Roth, Elected Member New board members and alternates Two new Board Members have been appointed. The Seward City Council has appointed Jess Sweatt to represent the City of Seward. Jess is a lifelong resident of Seward with a background in commercial fisheries and construction. He is looking forward to working with the Board of Directors to facilitate and enhance fishing opportunities in Resurrection Bay. Jess replaced departing City of Seward representative Tim McDonald. The Municipality of Anchorage appointed Sean Palmer as their representative on the CIAA Board of Directors. Sean is an environmental scientist with experience including environmental policy regulation. This seat was formally held by Sam Cotten, who is now the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Other changes include the addition of two new alternates. Caroline Correia was seated as the alternate for Robert Correia, who is one of the five Inlet Wide Commercial Fishermen Representatives. Dale Bagley was seated as the alternate for the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Dale has served on the Board before. Hunter Hammer has stepped down as one of the Processor Representative alternates. And Brent Johnson has been named the second Kenai Peninsula Fisherman s Association representative. Upcoming board election This fall, CIAA will begin an election process to fill two of the five at-large Board of Director Seats. These seats are reserved for Cook Inlet Area H salmon permit holders and are commonly referred to as the Inlet Wide Commercial Fishermen Representatives. These seats act as the voice for all 1,293 permit holders (data current of May 2016). The terms of these two seats held by Paul Roth and Robert Correia are set to expire at the February 2017 annual meeting. Nominating petitions will be sent out to all permit holders in October Next board meeting The next board meeting will be held September 24, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the Kenai CIAA Headquarters Building. Total return predictions Species Return Site Stock Total Return Broodstock Escapement Cost Recovery Sockeye Resurrection Bear Lake 171,081 13, ,081 Sockeye Tutka Bay English Bay 82,695 12,000 50,695 Sockeye Hazel Lake Hidden 8, ,671 Sockeye Leisure Lake Hidden 13, ,805 Sockeye Kirschner English Bay 18, ,158 Sockeye Second Lake English Bay 6,305* Sockeye Hidden Lake Hidden 29,240* 14,620 0 Coho Bear Lake Bear Lake 18, Pink Tutka Bay Tutka 348,470* 161, ,470 Pink Paint River Bruin 15,000 15,000 0 Pink Port Graham Port Graham 66,000 66,000 0 * Includes both enhanced and naturally produced returns. Second Lake - enhanced = 1,576; natural = 4,729 Hidden Lake - enhanced = 14,620; natural = 14,620 Tutka Bay - enhanced = 337,470; natural = 11,000 The table to the left is the forecasted total return for the 2016 fishing season for all releases performed by CIAA. In order to support operations, CIAA had determined that $4,495,295 in cost recovery harvest is required. Pending actual grounds price, CIAA anticipates harvesting the sockeye returns to Resurrection Bay, Tutka Bay Lagoon, Kirschner Lake, and China Poot/Hazel Lake. At Tutka Bay Lagoon, CIAA is anticipating to cost recovery harvest approximately 187,500 pink salmon. No pink salmon harvest is expected at Port Graham as returns are needed for broodstock purposes. Limited opportunity for common property harvest is available for sockeye and coho salmon. Staff highlights Peter Thompson signed on as the Hatchery Manager at Port Graham Hatchery on May 2. Peter has a Bachelor of Arts in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Peter brings 24 years of experience in hatchery management at both a large-scale commercial Atlantic salmon hatchery (Kennebec Hatchery in Maine) and with the State of New Mexico Los Ojos Hatchery where the focus was on rainbow trout and kokanee salmon. In addition to his hatchery management experience, Peter has worked as a consultant researching and designing new aquaculture technologies. His vast experience in hatchery management will be an asset as CIAA builds production at the Port Graham Hatchery and as CIAA looks at future renovations and upgrades to its other facilities. Peter Thompson Wendy Perry Wendy Perry also joined the CIAA team at Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery on May 5 as the Hatchery Manager. Wendy has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology with a minor in Ecology from the University of Maine. In 2012, she was a seasonal technician for Ohio Department of Natural Resources where she conducted trawling and performed sampling for fish ID, length, stomach contents, otolith removal, and water quality. In May 2013 she started as a Seasonal Technician with Prince William Sound Aquaculture Association and worked her way up to become the Assistant Hatchery Manager at one of their more diverse and complex hatcheries at Esther Island. Her fish culture experience with pink and chum salmon will be an asset for continuing with the progress at Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery. PAGE 7

8 Issue 77 SPRING/SUMMER 2016 Board of Directors Matanuska-Susitna Borough Brian Bohman Municipality of Anchorage Sean Palmer Kenai Peninsula Borough Dale Bagley, Alternate City of Seward Jess Sweatt Inlet Wide Commercial Fishermen Representative Christine Brandt, 1st Vice President Carl Hatten John McCombs Paul Roth Robert Correia City of Kachemak Emil Beaver Nelson, 2nd Vice President North Pacific Fisheries Association Jessie Nelson, Secretary John Gucer Kenai Peninsula Fisherman s Association Will Faulkner Brent Johnson, President Northern District Setnetters of Cook Inlet Page Herring Kenny Rodgers City of Homer Mark Roth United Cook Inlet Drift Association Dyer VanDevere Bob Merchant Port Graham/Nanwalek Representative Vacant Processor Representative Vince Goddard Tim Schmidt Cook Inlet Region, Inc. Paul Shadura II Cook Inlet Fishermen s Fund Dave Martin, Treasurer Stephen Vanek Cook Inlet Seiners Association Matt Alward Jacob Wise CIAA Staff and Locations Headquarters Gary Fandrei, Executive Director Ron Carlson, Project Technician Caroline Cherry, Hatchery Operations Coordinator Cathy Cline, Temporary Project Technician Emily Heale, Temporary Project Technician Rodney Hobby, Biologist Lisa Ka aihue, Special Projects Manager Barbara Morgan, Accounting Specialist/Office Assistant Andy Wizik, Biologist Kalifornsky Beach Road, Kenai, Alaska Trail Lakes Hatchery Tom Prochazka, Hatchery Manager Kristin Beck, Assistant Hatchery Manager Mike Cooney, Fish Culturist Jennifer Mevissen, Fish Culturist Vacant, Temporary Fish Culturist P.O. Box 29, Moose Pass, Alaska Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery Wendy Perry, Hatchery Manager Vacant, Assistant Hatchery Manager Adam Sullivan, Fish Culturist Charles Wlasniewski, Fish Culturist Vacant, Temporary Fish Culturist P.O. Box 3389, Homer, Alaska Port Graham Hatchery Peter Thompson, Hatchery Manager Vacant, Assistant Hatchery Manager Ephim Anahonak, Fish Culturist Vacant, Temporary Fish Culturist P.O. Box 5547, Port Graham, Alaska NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN Subscribe to Smolts If you are not currently receiving Smolts and would like to keep up with Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association news, you can subscribe to Smolts. We publish Smolts twice yearly. This publication is mailed free to all limited-entry salmon permit holders for purse seine, drift gillnet, and setnet in Area H. It is also mailed free to any person interested in CIAA. We invite you to connect with CIAA on our Facebook page at PAGE 8 To receive Smolts, send a request with your name, your organization s name, and your address to: Smolts, Kalifornsky Beach Road, Kenai, AK or to lisak@ciaanet.org. For change of address for permit holders, notify Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC), P.O. Box , Juneau, AK , or call them at We use mailing labels from the CFEC. If your address is wrong, please contact CFEC; we cannot correct your address.