Silver salmon egg take in Anchorage sets up a future generation for sportfishing

Updated: October 6, 2022 Published: October 6, 2022

Fish culturist Greg Carpenter, left, bonks a coho salmon held by hatchery manager Andy Garry that was spawned during an egg take at the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery near Ship Creek in Anchorage on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Having survived a year in the ocean and a rain-flooded Ship Creek upon their return to Anchorage in late summer, hundreds of coho salmon made their way back to the place where their life began.

On Wednesday, the last of 270 pairs, 540 silvers, were spawned during a three-day egg take at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery to enhance sportfishing opportunities.

Approximately 1.1 million fertilized eggs are now incubating. Smolt produced from these eggs will be used to stock Ship Creek, Campbell Creek, Bird Creek and Eklutna Tailrace in June 2024. The smolt will spend a year feeding and growing in the Pacific Ocean before returning. Fingerlings will be used to stock lakes on the Kenai Peninsula and in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Fairbanks.