UPDATE: July 1, 2025:
Following our press release, NSRAA staff have been hard at work both recovering bags and gathering information on their distribution as well as other cleanup efforts. To date over 2,100 bags have been recovered and we are hoping you can help us continue by reporting your sightings using our interactive survey tool linked below!
REPORT YOUR FEED BAG SIGHTINGS HERE
SE Alaska Marine Debris Fish Feed Bag Sightings: On May 20th, 2025, NSRAA was contacted by a good Samaritan vessel that discovered a large quantity of salmon feed bags adrift in the lower Chatham Strait region near entrance to Frederick Sound. NSRAA is a regional private non-profit salmon aquaculture association based in Sitka. NSRAA operates salmon enhancement hatcheries and projects in the northern portion of SE Alaska.
Beginning the following day, May 21st, NSRAA initiated efforts to ascertain location, distribution, and origination of the feed bag debris. This effort was performed by NSRAA staff in vessels and with aerial spotting via float plane. NSRAA observed and recovered numerous feed bags and was able to ascertain by production lot and date numbers on the bags that these were used at our remote Hidden Falls Hatchery in 2021.
After this discovery of origin, NSRAA contacted Lituya Freight Runners based in Petersburg, the contractor who removed this refuse from our facility in 2021. The contractor was notified of our discovery and informed NSRAA that this refuse was not delivered to Petersburg per arrangement, but stored at a remote location, between Hidden Falls and Petersburg, on a barge for the last 4 years. It appears this barge was moved out of the remote location immediately prior to the good Samaritan sighting of feed bag debris on May 20th.
To date the contractor has not made efforts to recover the feed bag debris. NSRAA was informed by the contractor today, June 13th, that they are in the process of beginning those efforts and will be in the Chatham Strait area next week. NSRAA has mobilized all available resources in response and to date has recovered approximately 1,100 individual feed bags since May 20th. Our first priority is to find and remove this unintentional marine debris and to engage the responsible party, the contactor in this effort immediately. NSRAA encourages those who have sightings of this debris to report their location, numbers and disposition (i.e. recovered and disposed of, or left in place) to the Southeast Alaska Commercial Fishermen Marine Debris Clean Up program at the following email address-seakmarinedebris@gmail.com, or directly to NSRAA.
The NSRAA board of directors has determined that recovering as many feed bags as possible is a high priority issue, which has also incurred and will continue to incur expenses. The NSRAA board will be engaging in future discussions concerning the Lituya Freight Runners contract.
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