Buchanan Salmon Fishing

Commercial Fishing for Wild Alaskan Salmon

Tom’s Blog

A Seiner’s Story

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I’ve got a long history of teaching greenhorns how to fish and speaking out against fish farming and hatcheries, so when a former deckhand said “I’m writing a book about it” I said I’d help. We never knew it would grow into 10 books (Secret Bay and Midnight Bay haven’t been released yet). They have 5 star reviews, and are available on Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, and Amazon.

A Frightening Conversation

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We got a call from a commercial fisherman in Washington state and thought it was for the seiner, which is up for sale. No, he was interested in the jitney. When I asked if he might be interested in a well-maintained seiner, he was surprised. Deeply surprised.

He is a former Alaskan seiner and he assumed our fishery had turned out like his, in Washington, and he explained more specifically: “We’re only a terminal fishery now. Only shallow jitneys hit the water; seiners are too big, their draft too deep.” He went on to explain that their hatcheries (placed at non-traditional salmon streams) created a “terminal fishery,” The only commercial fishing now was at the hatchery, and all fisherman do is scoop and lift–and those days are numbered, too. The hatchery could easily eliminate that process and harvest the manufactured return themselves. And that day is coming.

And this is what we’re fighting against. Hatcheries supplant wild runs. Their manufactured fish compete with wild salmon for food. The diseases these farmed fish carry from hatchery production spread to wild runs, decimating them like smallpox decimated Alaskan Natives.

Trouble At Sea

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Despite having the richest remaining wild salmon runs on Earth, Alaska leads the world in salmon hatchery production. But evidence is mounting that hatcheries—long seen as the solution to low fish returns—may be contributing to an ocean-wide problem. Trouble at Sea explores the alarming ecological ripple effects from hatcheries and asks Alaskans to have tough conversations about our changing ocean resources.

The full documentary premieres Tuesday, November 25 at 7 PM on KAKM, and will also be available to watch online at that time. Livestream link: https://video.alaskapublic.org/livestream

View the trailer and project details here: https://alaskapublic.org/programs/trouble-at-sea

Science Against Hatcheries

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Such a good read by the Wild Fish Conservancy! Our Debt to the River: The Scientific Case Against Industrial Salmon Hatcheries

the five billion hatchery salmon released annually don’t supplement wild returns—they actively supplant them

When billions of hatchery fish are released, they compete directly with wild fish for limited food and space. … it is “wild reduction, not hatchery production.”