There are several theories about why most wild salmon populations have been declining*. Bycatch kill in the trawling industry, orca predation, over harvesting in the sport and commercial fisheries, habitat degradation, and warming oceans have been blamed for the downward trend.
One salmon population that hasn’t been trending down is pink salmon. In fact, the trend is up. The increase isn’t by accident. Every year, billions of hatchery pink salmon are being dumped into the oceans.
Is this a case of unintended consequences? Does correlation equal causation?
A recent article in Native Fish Society examined the “trophic cascade” of pink salmon in the Pacific Ocean. It’s an informative read and can be found here. To summarize, the answer is yes, too many hatchery pink salmon introduced by the U.S., Japan, and Russia have affected native salmon populations. They’ve outcompeted other salmon for food, which has resulted in smaller sized fish and has impacted reproductive success.
There is good news.
The Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee has petitioned the Alaska Board of Fisheries to reduce the amount of hatchery pink salmon released in Alaska waters. Proposal 59 is seeking to “reduce hatchery production to 25 percent of the year 2000 production.”
It’s difficult to say if this proposal will pass, but it’s encouraging to know that there is a group looking to tap the brakes and reverse the trend of dumping more and more pinks into the oceans.
In my opinion, if the Alaska Department of Fish and Game does anything, it should invest in the more valuable commercial salmon fisheries. 2022 data shows a commercially caught king salmon was worth 11.5 times what a pink was worth; silvers were worth more than 3 times as much; and reds were worth 2.75 as much. The benefit of this investment would also trickle down to the sport fishing industry. A single sport caught salmon is worth ten times what a single commercially caught salmon is worth. Definitely a win/win for the Alaska economy.
It’s time to rethink the Alaska pink salmon fisheries management paradigm.
*An outlier to the downward trend has been the Bristol Bay red salmon runs. The last two summers have produced record runs.
Whoopsie Daisy