Salmon Hatcheries Continue Their Harvest

For decades salmon hatcheries along the Sanriku coast have maintained healthy salmon populations in the Pacific waters off northeast Japan. The hatchery process begins in early autumn when spawning salmon start their run up Sanriku rivers.  There, salmon are met by fishermen who harvest the eggs and cultivate juvenile populations.  To help prepare for this year’s harvest, Peace Winds provided hatcheries with equipment and infrastructure to replace what was lost in the March 11 tsunami.

In late October, salmon hatcheries and Peace Winds got down to business as the first salmon began to run Sanriku rivers.  Peace Winds continues to support the hatcheries this December, which is the busiest month for hatcheries and when the salmon run is at its height.

Salmon fishing is vital to the local economies of the Sanriku coast.  In the small fishing town of Minamisanriku fishermen can net more than half of the year’s total catch during the autumn salmon season alone.  Hatcheries play an important role in maintaining salmon populations for fishermen and for tsunami stricken towns that depend on salmon for livelihoods and for recovering local economies.

READ MORE > about Peace Winds’ work in Tohoku.