It is found that the State Board of Fisheries gave the entire fish harvest in Resurrection Bay to the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association to recover the cost of operating the Trail Lake Hatchery, but it comes at the expense of the commercial fleet in Seward. Most of the hatchery fears shut down. It is said that the hatchery stocks numerous salmon runs in Cook Inlet and Resurrection Bay.
It is said that the Board of Fisheries has allowed the change and now the hatchery is getting its revenue, but commercial fishermen are hurting. Tim McDonald is a commercial fisherman and is getting ready for fishing season. He explained that it definitely was the deciding factor this year. While the sockeye arrived, McDonald remains on dry dock because there will be no commercial fishery in Resurrection Bay this year.
Gary Fandrei, executive director of the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association. Informed that this particular year they are in a unique situation because we have poor returns coming in from other systems they are working on. He added that they have to get all of their cost recovery harvest from one system and that requires us to take 100 percent of the run.
It is observed that in 2008 commercial boats caught almost 90,000 fish in Resurrection Bay. The hatchery’s revenue problems changed the dynamics which is now prompting fishermen to question the hatchery’s purpose. According to McDonald they are taking almost everything they do they have to take back for their own revenue so they’re really not contributing much except to themselves.
