Research

Net Pens - Salmon Live Delivery

Problem: Live salmon delivery has the potential to revolutionize the Alaska salmon industry. With live salmon, the improvements in fish quality, and fish prices, could be substantial. This two-year project promises to determine the feasibility of delivering live, commercially-harvested Alaska salmon to a Kodiak City seafood processing facility. We will answer the question of whether live salmon can be transported ~50 nautical miles from the fishing grounds, held in a net pen moored on the Kodiak waterfront, and then delivered live to a processor’s dock. The entire process will be monitored carefully, enumerating salmon mortality at various points along the way and determining whether an experimental net pen is successful at passively deterring marine mammal predators.

Approach: The project is an ongoing collaboration with Digital Observer. Thus far we have fabricated all the required equipment and conducted pilot level experiments to fine tune our system. We contracted with a local seiner to capture the salmon. These were transferred to another vessel that had been modified with aerators to fully oxygenate the sea-water in the hold. Live salmon were then transported to Kodiak where they were “wet-brailed” from the tender to a net pen capable of being towed to a local processor. Care was taken in building the net pen to exclude Steller sea lions. These animals visited the pen multiple times each day searching for a way to get at the salmon. After several days, the salmon were delivered to a local processor.

Results: We experienced very low mortality in our experiments – in capture, in delivery to the tender, in transporting the salmon aboard the tender and in holding the salmon in the net pen until they were delivered to the processor. The processor reports that fish quality was quite high. We conducted a detailed analysis of the effects of this program on the quality of the delivered salmon compared with traditionally delivered fish. In conclusion, net pens can be useful as a holding place for live salmon. They can be designed to be reasonably safe from sea lion predation and can be towed from place to place with relative ease. However, there is a limit to the amount of stress the wild salmon can endure in a net pen. These stresses can be due to confinement in the pen and/or due to the presence of other stressors, such as predators or fresh water. By keeping salmon alive in net pens and by processing them directly at a seafood processing facility, the potential exists that seafood quality and freshness can be improved. This is of value considering the market demands for high value wild salmon. However, yet more work needs to be done to improve the fish handling techniques.

Presentations & Publications:
M. Buckley Presentation at Pacific Marine Expo, 2006. Radio report on statewide program, “Alaska Fisheries Report”

Contact person: Mr. Mark Buckley email: mkbuckley@alaska.com