Alaska salmon ranching: An economic review of the Alaska salmon hatchery programme

Beginning in the 1970s, at a time when wild salmon harvests were at historically low levels, the State of Alaska invested heavily in the establishment of salmon hatcheries for commercial salmon ranching. In 1995, more than 33 million salmon of hatchery origin were harvested in Alaska, mostly pink and chum salmon. This chapter reviews the experience of the Alaska salmon hatchery programme from an economic perspective, and suggests lessons of the programme for other sea ranching projects. The benefits of the programme have been reduced by a significant decline in salmon prices since the late 1980s. Commercial fishermen harvesting hatchery fish have benefited from the programme, but fishermen in other areas of Alaska may have been harmed to the extent that hatchery harvests helped depress prices. Many hatcheries are not viable without continuing state subsidies. The Alaska salmon hatchery programme is neither obviously an economic success nor obviously an economic failure.