Below is good news from Dan Goodness

Good morning, all!

Everything is going great for us here, and I wanted to give you an update. It's springtime in Sitka, complete with February snowshowers, and sunny days, too. We have begun shocking, picking and seeding coho eggs. All of our chinook have hatched, and we will begin ponding them within a month. The pinks and chums are using up their yolk, and we should begin ponding them in March. The feed for this year has been ordered, and so everything is on schedule.
In addition, we have begun the process of coded wire tagging of the Broodyear 2007 chinook and cohos. We started working on the chinook yesterday. All in all, we need to clip the adipose fins from 40,000 fish, (20,000 chinook and 20,000 cohos) and inject these with the coded wire tags recently acquired from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. We will be releasing these tagged fish this coming May, right out in Crescent Bay. Last spring, there were lots of people who volunteered their time to assist us, and learn about this procedure. I am very thankful for all the help we got!! What was especially wonderful was the experience that our local High School students got from this.

In one of the attached photos, you can see Sitka High School students tagging chinook last March.

This spring, I want to once again encourage the community of Sitka, and our local school system, to be an integral part of the continuing educational program that the Sheldon Jackson Hatchery represents, for our City. This is a tremendous opportunity for someone interested in learning about our fisheries resources here. Even if you are an individual who would just like to drop by the hatchery, and watch for awhile, that's OK, too. If you are a part of a group that would like to help us, please reply to this email, and let me know when your group could be here to help. We will be able to do the tagging operation when it's convenient for your participation. This includes Saturdays, if this works into your schedule better. At this point in time, we do not plan to tag fish on Sundays.

There will be hot drinks and snacks for our volunteers. And I want to take lots of photos this spring. So, if you'd like to help, feel free to reply to this note, or call the hatchery at 907-747-8878. Please leave a message if you get the answering machine. I thank you for your interest, and your contributions to our cause. We are dedicated to keeping the educational component of the SJ Hatchery alive, and you are invited to join our group!!

Sincerely yours, Dan

Daniel F. Goodness, ManagerSheldon Jackson Hatchery834 Lincoln StreetSitka, Alaska 99835
Work Phone: 907-747-8878Home Phone: 907-747-3824
Email: daniel.goodness@gmail.comWebsite: www.sjhatchery.org

"Education never stops at the SJ Hatchery"