Armstrong-Keta, Inc.
A non-profit organization to support the commercial and sport fishing fleets, the rural communities and the fishing-related businesses of Southeast Alaska via salmon enhancement research and the production of additional salmon.
PRIVATE NON-PROFIT ALASKAN SALMON HATCHERY
In an effort to promote long-term sustainability and management, Armstrong-Keta, Inc., (AKI) was founded in 1980 as a private non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation that operates the Port Armstrong Hatchery. The organization’s primary function is to significantly contribute salmon in an environmentally compatible way to the common property fisheries of Southeast Alaska, including commercial, sport, and subsistence users.
SALMON ENHANCEMENT
Port Armstrong Hatchery
The hatchery has the character of a small village, nestled between the bay and steep hillsides along Port Armstrong’s scenic shores. Our facilities have grown alongside increased production, featuring three incubation buildings, ten rearing raceways, and over fifty saltwater net pens. Supported by hydropower and water from nearby lakes, we sustainably rear chum, pink, king, and coho salmon, ensuring self-sufficient operations with electricity and heat generated on-site.
PRISTINE location
The Port Armstrong Hatchery is located on the remote southern end of Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska. This rugged outpost of paradise can only accessed via boat or seaplane.
The topography of Baranof Island is generally very steep and rocky, with high glacier-clad mountains and deep fjords and bays. The rainforest climate and marine conditions are ideal for salmon runs, but the steep streams offer minimal locations where salmon can spawn naturally. The hatchery provides the missing link — supplying incubators and human-assisted spawning — to allow salmon to take advantage of these ideal environmental conditions and thrive in this location.
SITE HISTORY
This beautiful, unspoiled wilderness embodies a rich history of fishing, whaling, and canning.
Port Armstrong was the site of a whaling station for four years in the early 20th century, with whaling boats scouring the seas for whales up to 300 miles in every direction. Later a herring reduction plant operated there for several decades until 1953. AKI built its salmon hatchery on the same site in the early 1980s and took its first salmon eggs in 1983, using local salmon runs for its original broodstock to supplement the healthy and sustainable wild Alaskan salmon runs.
Interested in Joining ARmstrong-keta?
We have multiple openings available, and regardless of the role you select, you’ll be a key player in our hatchery’s operations and our efforts to enhance salmon populations in Southeast Alaska. Join our team to support local fisheries, communities, and businesses, and become an integral part of our mission.
FROM THE BLOG
Latest News
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Getting Set Up 6/19/24
Read more: Getting Set Up 6/19/24Our crew has been working on setting up the spawning room, which is where we take the salmons eggs later to be put in incubation.
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The Cycle Restarts 6/17/24
Read more: The Cycle Restarts 6/17/24Our crew is working on setting up the incubation building where we keep and raise the eggs that will be taken throughout the summer.
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Freeing the fish 4/26/24
Read more: Freeing the fish 4/26/24