Sitka Assembly awards Fisheries Enhancement Fund grants June 9

The Sitka Assembly will award grants from its Fisheries Enhancement Fund at its June 9 meeting — a modest local investment in an industry that helps anchor the regional economy.

Salmon enhancement is serious business in Southeast Alaska. The region is home to three private nonprofit aquaculture associations, including the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, which is headquartered in Sitka. Statewide, Alaska's hatchery program supports roughly 4,200 jobs, $219 million in annual labor income, and $576 million in total economic output across 26 facilities, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Past city allocations have gone to the Sitka Sound Science Center, which operates the Sheldon Jackson Hatchery — the first hatchery permitted by the State of Alaska, built by Sheldon Jackson College students in 1972. Today the hatchery is permitted to release three million pink salmon, three million chum, and 250,000 coho on site, with another nine million chum reared at the Deep Inlet remote site under NSRAA's care. It also raises Chinook salmon used largely for cost-recovery harvests that help fund its operations.

The timing matters. Hatchery economics have tightened sharply: Southeast fishermen averaged $1.20 per pound for chum salmon in 2022 but just $0.41 in 2024, while pink prices slid from $0.34 to $0.25 a pound. Local grants help enhancement programs weather those swings.

The city fund operates alongside larger state and federal programs. The Alaska Department of Commerce's Fisheries Enhancement Revolving Loan Fund, for instance, can lend up to $10 million to a qualified regional aquaculture association for hatchery planning, construction, and operation — and up to $1 million to other nonprofit hatchery corporations.

Specifics of this year's awards remain thin in the public record. Agenda item E 26-105 lists the proposals under consideration but does not disclose dollar amounts or the number of applicants; detailed materials are available at sitka.legistar.com, through the Municipal Clerk's Office, or in the assembly packet at the Sitka Public Library.

The Assembly meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Assembly Chambers, 330 Harbor Drive. The meeting will be livestreamed on the city's website and aired live on KCAW FM 104.7.