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The Salmon Fisheries

Decent Essays

In my hometown, a local diner serves “Honey dipped Salmon.” They claim that the dish is prepared using a species of Salmon, called Chinook, which is a product of the Alaska Salmon fisheries.
Since Chinook salmon is an anadromous specie, it is born in the fresh water, migrates to the ocean for 1-5 years and then returns to the Main-channel Rivers to spawn. The female lays around 3,000-14,000 eggs that are successfully fertilized by the males, however the eggs are very brittle and can be easily destroyed. Fortunately, enough hatch and survive in Alaska to ensure healthy stocks. After spawning, they typically die as they don’t feed on anything during their widespread migration and use up all the stored body fat for survival. (“CSSP”, n.d.). As an example of their extensive migration, we can look at “the Yukon River spawners that travel more than 2,000 river miles during a 60-day period to reach Canada”. Their major populations are located in Susitana, Taku, Copper, Kuskokwin, Nushagak river systems. The specie’s returning numbers from their sprawled spawning migrations had started declining in 2006, however they have significantly recovered now. (Wild explorer, n.d.)

The Chinook salmon is vastly sought after in Cook Inlet and Southeast Alaska by fishers because of its great value as a sport fish. The annual value of sports industry in Alaska is about $500 million and the annual harvest looms around 170,000 fish. (“CSU”, n.d.). However, to make the fisheries

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