The Way Forward

Peter Westley has been obsessed with fish for as long as he can remember. He grew up on Anchorage’s Campbell Creek, a salmon stream, and spent summers on his family’s sailboat in Prince William Sound, where millions of wild and hatchery salmon return each year. The moment his family anchored up, Westley was ready to fish. He began his undergraduate education at the University of Washington as a history major, with plans to become a teacher so that he could have summers off to go fishing. But when he realized he could actually forge a career focused on fish, he was hooked. He’s been studying fish ever since.

Westley’s research focuses on how fish species respond to environmental change. His recent research on hatchery fish that stray into wild salmon runs has made clear that risks accompany the rewards of Alaska’s hatchery program. While hatchery fish that return not to the hatchery but to wild salmon streams and mate with their wild counterparts can artificially boost the numbers of fish in these streams, the tradeoff is that the wild runs lose genetic diversity and the semi-wild offspring aren’t as healthy as their wild parents.

Westley sees the role of his work as helping to inform decisions about fisheries and other resources. And he’s become a prominent voice advocating for Alaskans to have difficult conversations about hatcheries, without resorting to black and white thinking.

“Salmon hatcheries are not inherently good or inherently bad,” he said. “They are a tool that has compromises built in.”

Westley thinks it’s important for Alaskans to take four important steps:

1. Where hatcheries are present, rethink escapement counts. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages salmon fisheries by ensuring that enough fish reach spawning grounds to produce the next generation. The number of fish that evade commercial fishermen and are able to head upstream to spawn is called “escapement.” But this method of accounting can get muddled when millions of hatchery salmon stray into wild salmon streams and are accidentally counted toward escapement goals. These errant hatchery fish can cause managers to think that more wild fish have made it safely to spawn than actually have, potentially putting wild salmon populations at risk. 
2. Question hatchery release numbers. Hatchery release numbers are not set in stone. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game authorizes the amount of hatchery salmon a facility can release by putting a limit on the number of eggs it can collect for fertilization and incubation. ADFG has the power to reduce the egg collection limits and can limit where hatcheries release young fish. In light of impacts on wild fish and our changing ocean ecosystems, Alaskans should consider how many hatchery salmon it makes sense to release. Westley would like hatchery releases to be calibrated to ocean conditions and the amount of food that is available for all fish, an approach known as “adaptive release.”
3. Understand the science and the risks. The science is clear: Wild salmon suffer when hatcheries are involved. And all available evidence points to hatchery and wild fish competing for food as an important factor. As Alaskans, we should work to understand the science of hatcheries and their impacts—and then make decisions about risk. Hatcheries can successfully produce salmon for harvest, but this comes at a cost. Alaskans should consider how much risk to wild salmon and ocean ecosystems we are willing to accept.
4. Talk to one another. Alaskans love salmon. This fish is a powerful common denominator that unites our vast and diverse state. As Alaskans, we should have thoughtful conversations with one another about our concerns and our goals. How do we weigh the benefits of hatcheries against their drawbacks? What do we hope to achieve?

These conversations are hard, Westley said, in part because people are afraid of what they stand to lose. According to a recent report prepared for the hatchery industry by the McKinley Research Group, hatchery activities account for the annual equivalent of 4,200 jobs and $219 million in wages—amounting to $576 million in annual economic output.

These conversations are also fraught because the state of Alaska both manages hatcheries and profits from them. Hatchery salmon contribute millions of dollars in taxes to the state and to coastal communities. Numerous sport and commercial fisheries have become dependent on hatchery fish. “One of the hardest things to do is turn off a hatchery once it’s going,” Westley said.

But the time to have these conversations is now. Climate change is rapidly changing our oceans, with recent marine heat waves that have had devastating consequences for ocean life and for communities. The release of billions of hatchery fish—on top of the challenges of climate change—presents a double whammy to wild salmon and marine ecosystems, Westley explained.

“There are going to be compromises,” Westley acknowledged. But we must ask ourselves: “What do we want as Alaskans?”

--Miranda Weiss