Tackling a king-sized problem

Now I remember why I jumped at the offer to retire from Fish and Game years ago — that commute to Anchorage is brutal.

However, I only had to go for two days this past week. I attended the 2012 Alaska Chinook Salmon Symposium at the Egan Center to hear how Fish and Game, with input from the public and scientific researchers from across North America, planned to address king salmon declines statewide.

The symposium was billed as a way to develop a detailed research plan to, hopefully, find out why the king returns have been so dismal statewide for the past several years and what it would take to bring them back. I believe the concept of fleshing out research plans by identifying what needs to be learned and also compiling what is already known about the life cycle of king salmon was fairly well accomplished. The outstanding question in my mind is how long it will take to gather the missing data and incorporate it into a meaningful management plan directed at bringing back the kings.

The symposium was broken into four half-day sessions where each session addressed a specific facet of king salmon research and/or management. Presentations were made in each session by recognized experts on the particular topic and an expert panel of scientists, researchers and administrators, then asked questions to try to identify what further information was needed. The audience was then invited to ask questions of the presenters and the panel to further refine some of the knowledge voids.

My first impression was that some of the presentations were very technical, using “scientific speak” and presenting mathematical formulas for how the particular model being discussed was structured. Some of the talks seemed to delve into areas of research that are worth knowing for knowledge sake, but might have little meaning in figuring how to better manage our king salmon populations. Other presentations and sessions were more down to earth.

The fourth session involved the role of hatchery research and production in addressing the reversal of diminishing king salmon populations. I could relate best to this topic since the bulk of my career with Fish and Game was in the hatchery program.

In discussions with several folks around the Valley over time and at various fisheries-oriented meetings, I have heard the common thought that we should just start stocking salmon in all the depleted systems and things will get better. That’s a dangerous concept that could ultimately do more harm than good. Hatcheries can be a very useful tool in rehabilitating, enhancing or developing a salmon population, but that approach is only one of many tools available to fisheries managers. In short, hatcheries are one tool but not necessarily THE tool to address many of these issues.

Because of previous commitments, I was unable to stay for the hatchery session, but a longtime friend John Burke, the general manager of Southern-Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, was a presenter of the topic “Chinook enhancement in the current Alaska hatchery program.” I asked John if he could send me a short email comment on how the session went. I had included some of my concerns and wanted to know if those topics came up during the discussions.

John assured me that several of the presenters emphasized the point that establishing a hatchery salmon enhancement program with a reasonable expectation of success was a complex issue requiring a fair amount of site- and population-specific data. John presented the real example of how a hatchery program without sufficient forethought in Southeast had developed several unexpected consequences that weren’t good. He said folks got the point.

He also stated that several audience members commented that the hatchery program should have been presented first, rather than last. While hatchery folks have their own jargon and scientific quirks, they generally tend to speak using common terms and explain things in simpler terms than most research scientists. Had this been done, John commented that, “It might have helped people understand Chinook salmon a little more before they got into stock assessment” and some of the other session topics. Not a criticism, just a suggestion for next time.

As I said earlier, I’m thinking the goal of developing a research plan for kings was accomplished. But I think most of us are wondering how long it will take to translate that plan into fish in the rivers. Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.