Medvejie Hatchery
Medvejie Hatchery is located near Sitka, Alaska and produces chum, Chinook and coho salmon. A temporary hatchery was built on the site in 1981 and construction of a permanent facility occurred in 1984. Funding for additional production allowed the expansion of Chinook capacity in 1987.
Chum salmon returns have averaged 1.5 million fish over the last ten years, 2000-2009. Return numbers exceeded 1 million fish from 1998-2000, with a record 3.66 million chum return in 1999. The commercial harvest has averaged 1.17 million fish over this same ten year period. Most of the fish are harvested in the Deep Inlet harvest area located across Eastern Channel from Sitka by seiners and gillnetters. Trollers also harvest these chum salmon, primarily just outside of the terminal harvest area. Over the past ten years the troll catch has averaged 160,000 chum per year.
Medvejie's chum program has a release goal of 52 million fry. Of this number, about 10 million are released at the hatchery and 42 million in Deep Inlet. NSRAA releases an additional 8 million fry at Deep Inlet in a cooperative arrangement with Sheldon Jackson Hatchery.
In recent years, Medvejie has been the most successful Chinook program in Southeast in terms of commercial and sport contribution. Returns have averaged 35,000 Chinook over the past 10 years. These fish are primarily harvested during special May and June openings for trollers. Contribution to the troll fleet has averaged 9,500 Chinook over the past 10 years (2000-2009). The sport catch of Medvejie Chinook has averaged nearly 2,200 fish over this period.
Medvejie began a major expansion of its Chinook program in 1997. This expansion, which involves rearing fry in net pens in Green Lake, has doubled the hatchery's Chinook production. This increased production has had a large impact on the number of Chinook returning since 2002.An experimental zero-check Chinook program began with brood year 1999, with the first zero-check smolts released in the spring of 2000. Zero-check smolts are released in late June to mid-July of the first rearing year. (Traditionally, smolts are reared an additional year at the hatchery, and released during May of their second rearing year. These are called yearling, or one-check smolts.) The zero-program has shown some promise, with almost 20,000 adults returning to date.
Currently Medvejie releases about 2 million yearling Chinook smolts and 2 million zero-check smolts each year.
Medvejie's coho program is currently undergoing a change of brood stock. After several years of mediocre performance, we decided to terminate the Plotnikof Lake stock and will begin developing the Salmon Lake stock this fall. It will take several years to reach our production goal of 2 million coho smolts.
As we near production levels, most of the coho rearing will occur at NSRAA's new Sawmill Cove Hatchery. The new program will involve brood stock collection and egg-takes at Medvejie, with most of the incubation and fry rearing at the new facility and smolt releases at Medvejie and in Deep Inlet.
A portion of the coho smolts will be released at Medvejie to generate enough adults for brood stock, and the remainder at the Deep Inlet remote release site. The coho program primarily benefits the troll fishery, but also contributes to the sport fishery and will be of increasing importance to the net fisheries with the adult returns to Deep Inlet.
