Fishery Notes

Alaska Plans NewSalmonid Hatchery Facilities

William Sound. The hatchery site IS

remote, but there is plenty of good waterand room for future expansion.

The Kotzebue hatchery was added tothe bond request by Alaska's Legislature,and consequently, planning for thefacility is still at an early stage. It will beademonstration project, to determine thepotential of fish culture in Arctic regions.FRED planners estimate that the fourhatcheries will prod uce $20 million worthof salmon annually when they achievefull production.

Alaskan voters gave their salmonidhatchery program a boost last year byapproving $26.9 million in fisheriesdevelopment bonding, the AlaskaDepartment of Fish and Game (DFG)reports. This means that the DFG'sDivision of Fisheries Rehabilitation,Enhancement and Development(FRED) can proceed with plans to buildfour salmon and trout hatcheries.

The new hatcheries-at Snettishamnear Juneau, Main Bay in Prince WilliamSound, Ship Creek near Anchorage, andat Kotzebue Sound--·will have acombined capacity of 155 million eggs.FRED Division Director Robert Royssaid the hatcheries will produce fish forAlaska's burgeoning sport fishing popu­lation, and will help maintain the

commercial salmon industry at a moreconstant level.

Planned expansion of the Ship Creekhatchery complex, to be built on themilitary base at Fort Richardson, isintended primarily to benefit sportfishermen. Along with producing 7 millionking and coho salmon smolts annually,the proposed expansion will increaserainbow trout production from 500,000fingerlings to 2.5 million. AlaskaDepartment of Fish and Game planners

estimate that the trout production alonewill create the potential for an additional600,000 recreational man-days of anglingyearly.

The Snettisham hatchery will be thelargest of the new facilities, with acapacity of 71.5 million chum salmoneggs and 5.4 million king and coho

salmon eggs. The Snettisham hatcherysite also has an unusual water supply.While most hatcheries are constructedalong rivers and streams. this hatcherywill be built adjacent to a hydroelectricplant operated by the Alaska PowerAdministration (APA). Water for thepower plant is diverted to the site througha 2-mile tunnel from Long Lake, and thehatchery will use water from plant'stailrace, which has been determined to besuitable for fish culture. With FREDandAPA sharing the facilities, each agencywill be able to operate at lower cost,according to the DFG.

At Main Bay, a hatchery will be builtwith an initial capacity of 65 millionchum and pink salmon eggs. Pink salmonare to be phased out of prod uction atMain Bay after a brood stock of the morevaluable chum salmon has beendeveloped. These fish are intended for thegillnet and seine fisheries of Prince

TEXAS BAY OYSTERPRODUCTION DOWN

October 1978 sampling in GalvestonBay, where 75 percent of the Texas'oyster crop is harvested, showed ascarcity of marketable oysters, accordingto Texas Parks and Wildlife Departmentmarine biologist Bob Hofstetter inSeabrook. The situation reflected poorspats (spawns) in 1975, 1976, and 1977when there was little reprod uction,Hofstetter said.

In one major market area west of theHouston Ship Channel in Galveston Bay,the numbers of market-size oysters wasdown 85 percent from 1977. In anothermajor harvest area around Redfish Reef,market oysters were down 70 percent, hesaid. For much of the oyster harvest inthe past 3 years, oystermen have relied onthe abundant crop produced in 1974, butpresent indications are that theremainder of these 4-years-old oystersfrom the 1974 crop took a beating lastsummer, Hofstetter explained.

"In 1978 oyster drills, stone crabs, anddisease organisms which prey on oystersflourished due to high bay salinities, andtheir predation on the mature oysters wassevere," he said. Since high salinities

Waste Heat Boosts Growth of Salmon

Use of waste heat from industry canaccelerate the growth of coho salmon,reduce production costs, and make amajor contribution to salmonproduction, University of Washingtonresearchers report. E. L. Brannon of theCollege of Fisheries at the University in

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Seattle says that a Washington Sea Granthas been utilizing waste heat to reducegeneration time of the hatcherypopulation of coho from 3 years to 2years.

A total of 240.070 coho smolts werereared in warm water and released to

migrate to sea after 6 months instead ofthe usual 18 months in natural waters orin state hatcheries. Encouraged by resultsof the Sea Grant study, a local electricalutility has proposed the use of waste heatfrom nuclear power plants for cohosalmon and steelhead trout rearing.

Marine Fisheries Rel'ie,,'

South Carolina Seeks Data on Shrimp Habits

prevailed all along the Texas coast lastsummer, oyster predation was probablysignificant in middle and lower coastbays as well, he added.

Klamath River SalmonRun Short of TargetThe California Department of Fish andGame (DFG), has announced thatpreliminary estimates indicate 87,000adult salmon escaped all Klamath Riversystem fisheries last fall to spawn. This is28,000 fewer salmon than the 115,000adult fish set by the DFG as the 1978 fallrun spawning escapement goal for theKlamath River.

Test fishing conducted by thedepartment through late August 1978indicated that the escapement goal mightnot be reached, and led to closures ofIndian commercial net fisheries and totalclosures of all salmon sport fishing in theriver. Indian subsistence fishing abovethe Highway 101 bridge was allowed tocontinue.

DGF Director E. C. Fullertonobserved that "while the 28,000 spawnershortage does not mean that salmon willdisappear from the Klamath, it doesmean that fewer fish will return in 1981and 1982 than would have been the casehad the goal been reached.

"Repeated or severe failure to meet theescapement goal could get us into realtrouble, and result in long term declines in

Texas' Tarpon MayBe Coming Back

During routine trammel net samplingin Aransas Bay last year, Texas Parksand Wildlife Department biologistscaught their third tarpon of 1978 in theAransas Bay system. This fish was caughtat the mouth of Corpus Christi Bayouleading into Redfish Bay. It was 31 incheslong and weighed 13 pounds. Increasedcatches of tarpon by biologists andincreasing reports of catches bysportfishermen along the entire Texascoast indicate the tarpon may well be onits way back from recent lowpopulations, the Department says.

March 1979

both fish populations and fishingsuccess," he said.

Fullerton also noted that the 1978 runwas below those occurring in 1976 and1977, and that the decline could be theresult of the recent drought. "If that isthe case," he said, "there is no reason toexpect the run to increase in 1979,because the effects of the drought on thatrun will be even more pronounced."Most king salmon return to spawn at 3 or4 years of age.

Before the emergency closures orderedlate in August, sport anglers caught anestimated 1,700adult salmon, and Indiannet fisheries below the Highway 101bridge took 10,000. Indian subsistencefisheries above the bridge wereunmeasured, but informed guesses as tothe catch there range upward from 15,000fish.

South Carolina Wildlife and MarineResources Department biologists taggedand released some 2,000 large whiteshrimp in Charleston Harbor lastDecember in an attempt to evaluate how

many shrimp overwinter along the coastand how many migrate south.

"Previous tagging studies indicate thatlarge shrimp at this time of year tend tomove offshore and then as far south asFlorida," said Charles Farmer of theDepartment. "Small shrimp, on the otherhand, appear to remain in our coastalwaters during the winter and constitutethe spring roe shrimp crop," he added.Farmer is head of the department'sCrustacean Management Section withinthe Office of Conservation Managementand Marketing.

Farmer said that previous taggingstudies were conducted during yearswhen shrimp were abundant. Currently,white shrimp movements may bedifferent. "Shrimp migration at thistime of year (December) depend largelyon winter conditions and temperatures,but there is still a lot we don't know aboutthe movements of these animals,"Farmer said.

The shrimp were tagged with a red"spaghetti" tag attached to the tail. A

Fullerton acknowledged that theclosures were less than popular, andresulted in severe financial problems forlocal business as well as disruption of thevacation plans of many hundreds ofanglers. However, he explained, "ourfirst resposibility is to the resource, andcontinued fishing, particularly the inten­sive and effective gill netting below the

Highway 10 I bridge, could have resultedin a first-class disaster for the 1978salmon run. Under the circumstances, wehad no choice, and the closures appear tohave been warranted."

Department figures indicate that inaddition to the 87,000 adult salmon, therun included 23,000 2-year-old males.These smaller fish, called "jacks" or"grilse," do not contribute to the eggpotential of the run and are excludedfrom the escapement goal.

number of tags had quickly beenreturned by commercial trawlers fishingin the Morris Island and Folly Beachareas. Farmer asked that shrimpers savethe entire tagged shrimp not just the tagand notify the department at once ofany tagged shrimp in their catch.Biologists hoped to tag another 3,000shrimp early this spring.

Milk SubstituteFrom Fish Waste?

Biologically extracted fish proteinhydrolysate (FPH) shows high promiseas a milk replacer, particularly in the areaof animal feeds, reports the University ofWashington, Seattle. According toGeorge Pigott of the Institute for FoodScience and Technology at theUniversity, "It is a high protein sourceand could prove to be of great value,particularly in the diet of weanlingcalves."

Several procedures for production ofFPH have been suggested in recent yearsfor fish waste, gutted fish, and fish fillets,but in general these products have failedto meet published product standards,

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says Pigott. According to th~se

standards, milk replacers should have afat content of less than I percent, an ashcontent of less than 10 percent, and aprotein content greater than 70 percent.Work conducted by Pigott and Per O.Heggelund (presently of the University of

SHAD BOOSTS SOUTHCAROLINA'S ECONOMY

The South Carolina shad fishery, alowcountry tradition in the spring maymean more to the state's economy thanpreviously believed. A South CarolinaWildlife and Marine ResourcesDepartment project to assess the extentof the fishery determined that in 1978 atleast 287,000 pounds of shad worth

$197,000 were landed in the state.This represents the best annual catch

reported since 1928 when shad, onceabundant, began to decline due to avariety of causes. These included loss ofspawning grounds to dams andpollution, and perhaps because ofoverfishing. But the increased landingsprobably renect better reporting of thecatch more than a resurgence in the shadpopulation, the Department points out.According to Glenn Ulrich, head of theDepartment's Marine ResourcesDivision's Finfish Management Section,shad landings are usually not wellreported since many fishermen do not selltheir catch through commercial seafooddealers.

"Much of the shad catch is sold to smallcountry stores and other individualoutlets," said Ulrich. "It is difficult to getan accurate assessment of the fisherywhen the fish are sold in so many places."Last spring, however, biologistscontacted as many as possible of thestate's 600 licensed shad fishermen as wellas a variety of small retail outlets. Theresult of this work, according to Ulrich,represents a much more accurate accountof shad landings than those compiledstrictly through commercial seafooddealers. The shad fishery assessmentproject, funded in part by the NationalMarine Fisheries Service, was extendedfor another year.

"We're now finding that the shad

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Alaska), Uhder Washington Sea Grantfunding, has succeeded in producing afinal product (in powdered form, as arule) that complies with these limits. Theraw material used in the study was freshfish waste resulting from filleting Englishsole.

fishery is extensive enough to warrantadditional research on the stocks," Ulrich

explained. "We hope that by gainingmore knowledge of shad we will be in abetter position to manage the fisherywhile maintaining a viable shadpopulation," he added. FinfishManagement Section biologists arecontinuing to work with cooperatingfishermen and retail and wholesaleoutlets to assess the shad catch. Inaddition, shad caught commercially arebeing examined to determine age, size,and sex composition of the stocks.

Commercial Salmon Stampto Aid California Fish

Beginning 15 April, California's com­mercial fishermen working aboard vesselswhich land salmon in California must havea commercial salmon stamp affixed to thecommercial license. Stamps, at $15, areavailable through state Department ofFish and Game (OFG) offices and licenseagents.

The stamp is required under terms ofAssembly Bill 2956, which was sponsoredby commercial fishermen's associationsand carried by then-Assemblyman BarryKeene. The bill was signed into law lastyear.

Funds raised by stamp sales will bematched by an equal amount from Fishand Game funds and the total will be usedto pay costs of rearing 2 million kingsalmon to yearling site-about 6 incheslong. According to the DFG. theprogram has the potential to increaseocean salmon landings by 100,000 fish.The estimated value of the additionalcatch which will be generated by theprogram could run in excess of$2 millionannually, the DFG said. The salmon willbe raised in the converted spawning

channel at Feather River Hatchery in

Commercial production lookspromising, the researchers report. Inaddition to creating new milk substitutes,the project has the added advantage ofrevealing yet another use for waste fish,thus furthering the ecologically soundconcept of total utilization.

Oroville. Fish reared to yearling size (10to the pound) will be those that wouldotherwise be released from the hatcheryas fingerlings (90 to the pound).

Experimental programs rearingsalmon for release as yearlings show thatthe technique significantly increases theoCean catch. the DFG said. Stamp salesfor the license year beginning I Aprilbased on about 5,200 vessels in the neetand a total of about 7,000 workingfishermen, are expected to produce about$100,000, half the projected $200,000 costof the undertaking. Commercial seasonwas scheduled to open 15 ApriL

Texas Sets SeatroutSize and Bag Limits

The Texas Parks and WildlifeCommission adopted the first bag.possession and mi nimum siz.e limits everimposed on the taking of spotted seatroutby sport fishermen in that state late lastyear. In a public hearing the commissionauthorized a daily bag limit of 20,possession limit of 40 and a 12-inchmInimum size for spotted seatrout(speckled trout) in all regulatory countiesfor anyone other than the holder of acommercial fishing license.

Commercial fishermen are notrestricted to the bag and possessionlimits, but already were subject to a 12­inch minimum length limit The newsport fishing regulation went into effect IDecember 1978.

In a pproving the staff recommenda­tion, commissioners received assurancethat the new regulation would beincluded for review in public regulatoryhearings to be held statewide in March1980. In the meantime, biological surveyswill be made to determine the effects ofthe limits on the resource.

Marine Fisheries Reviell'