SJ Hatchery Update

There is some good news from the SJ Hatchery. Below is a letter from Dan Goodness. I think we would all have to agree that Dan has gone above and beyond the call of duty to save the hatchery. He is to be commended for his hard work to save the hatchery. I think we would also all agree that the Hatchery is an important thing for this community. If you see Dan please be sure to thank him and Lila for all they have done.

Be sure to check out the new website for the hatchery at this link: http://www.sjhatchery.org/

Dan's Letter:

Good morning, everyone!

It's been an exciting week for me here at the Sage Building this week. Several College students spent the week of Spring Break volunteering at the SJ Hatchery, and boy did we get lots done! I especially want to thank Jennie Smith and her daughter Kat for all their help (Jennie flew up from Oregon to be a part of the team). Thanks also to Victoria and Paul, two more students attending UAS in Juneau, for their assistance in coded wire tagging of chinook, and other projects. Polly, Jack, Lila, Jan and Kathy also did their part in making the week special. Lila fixed a big lunch for everyone on the tagging team on Wednesday. My very sincere thanks to everyone who helped. We have clipped and tagged over 22,000 chinook, and so the tagging of Broodyear 2006 coho and chinook is complete.

Also this week, the Broodyear 2006 coho and chinook in circular ponds began getting a small amount of saltwater mixed in with the fresh. This helps prepare them for life at sea. These fish will be released during May this spring. Ther coho were sampled during the week, and a plan is now in place to spread them out amongst the available ponds to give them more room for the next two months.

A very special gift this week came from Mim McConnell, who is a very talented graphic arts designer, web designer and photographer. She had heard about the "plight" of the SJ Hatchery Program, and offered to create a website for us. She asked me to write the text, and provide photos for this project. I want to thank James Shewmake and Sitka Tribe of Alaska for their movie clips which have been incorporated on this site, and Don Shawler for the use of one of his photos. I have collected digital photos for several years now, primarily of my students, but also of my volunteers, working and learning in the hatchery. Mim, your work is exceptional, and I cannot thank you enough for this generous donation of time! The new website is up and running now, and can be viewed at http://www.sjhatchery.org/. You can see Mim McConnell's works, and business contact information by going to http://www.sheltercovepublishing.com/.

In addition, 650,000 pink salmon have been ponded and transferred into a 20' X 40' netpen, and are being fed daily. The water has been cold (around 3.0 degrees C.) so the chums are developing slowly. But they will be ponded soon, as will the rest of the pinks. The coho eggs have been picked and seeded, and will hatch soon.

In my last newsletter I referred to a meeting to take place in Sitka near the first of April, 2008. This meeting will include people from the University of Alaska Southeast, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, representatives of PNP hatcheries in Southeast Alaska (this includes me) as well as the Sitka Sound Science Center, and possibly representatives of other educational entities. I don't have an agenda quite yet, but the meeting is planned to go for a day and a half, and I hope to give everyone an extensive tour of the Sage Building, Wetlab, classrooms, and hatchery. We are preparing for everyone's arrival, getting the building and hatchery grounds "shipshape" for this special event. In my next newsletter, I hope to give everyone a summary of this get together. But for now, let me say that I sincerely believe everyone present will come to realize the enormous value of this educational hatchery and aquarium, housed in a historic building, located in a very special spot in Sitka. More news to come.

Our donation account, the "Friends of the Hatchery", at Wells Fargo Bank, in Sitka, Alaska, has raised over $10,000! The donation containers Lila and I placed around town have produced many hundreds of dollars. I don't know everyone who has donated. I wish I could thank each and every one of these folks for their gifts. But the containers and their contents show me that the entire City of Sitka is behind us in our struggle to keep the hatchery alive!!

If you have questions or comments about the hatchery, feel free to email me. Have a great day.

Daniel F. Goodness, Manager
Sheldon Jackson College Hatchery
801 Lincoln Street
Sitka, Alaska 99835

Office Phone: 907-747-3824
Home Phone: 907-747-3824
Email: daniel.goodness@gmail.com