Industry Darling

Pink salmon are the darling of Alaska’s hatchery industry. These are also the Pacific salmon with the lowest value. So why do the state’s hatcheries release more than 1 billion of them each year? Because they’re cheaper and easier to produce than other types of salmon.

Unlike other types of salmon, pink salmon have a two-year life cycle, the shortest of any species of Pacific salmon, which means a quicker return on investment for hatcheries when these fish throng back to the facilities ready for harvest. And pinks are easier for hatcheries to raise. Hatchery pink salmon are born in incubators where they live off their yolk sacs before they’re shuttled into ocean pens. Hatchery staff feed them in floating pens for a month or two before they’re ready for release. Once these pinkie-length fry are let go, the ocean takes care of the rest.

Chinook, on the other hand, have to be raised and fed in freshwater tanks at a hatchery facility typically for a year and sometimes longer before they can be sent to sea—a long, costly process.

Much of the pink salmon harvest in Alaska is sold headed and gutted to China for additional processing. Some of the resulting product ends up back in the U.S., where it’s marketed as canned fish, in pouches, as frozen filets, or other products. Even with domestic and international markets for pink salmon, this fish doesn’t earn much at the docks. Last year, even when pink salmon returns were well below average—a situation that should have boosted the price—fishermen were selling pink salmon for only around 25 cents a pound. Meanwhile, in some areas, a fisherman could earn more than $5 per pound for a Chinook.

--Miranda Weiss