Pillar Creek Hatchery (PCH) was constructed in 1990 as a cooperative project between ADF&G and KRAA. PCH is owned by the State of Alaska and is located on Kodiak Island Borough land that is leased to the State of Alaska. KRAA operates the facility under an agreement with the State.
PCH was designed as a central incubation facility where salmon eggs needed for production are collected from brood sources located at sites remote from PCH and transported to the facility for incubation, hatching, and rearing of resulting juvenile fish. Most juvenile fish are then transported to and released at sites remote from PCH and for stocking anadromous lakes to rehabilitate weak sockeye salmon stocks.
PCH primarily produces juvenile sockeye salmon for stocking barren-lake systems to enhance adult salmon production. These stocking projects increase sockeye salmon harvest opportunities in the Kodiak Management Area (KMA) for common property fisheries available to all Kodiak commercial, subsistence, personal use, and recreational fishermen. Secondarily, PCH produces coho salmon smolt for road-system stocking.
Through a cooperative agreement with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Sport Fish Division, PCH produces king salmon and rainbow trout for road-system releases. These releases create easy-access sport fishing opportunities for the public and professional fishing guides alike.
Pillar Creek Hatchery utilizes both early-run and late-run wild stocks to support commercial and subsistence harvest of sockeye in the Kodiak Archipelago. PCH staff gather adults for egg collection after their systems have achieved a minimum level of sustainable escapement as determined by ADF&G biologists. The resulting juveniles are reared at Pillar Creek for up to a year before being transported by floatplane to their stocking locations on Kodiak and Afognak Islands. Most of these fish are released into nursery lakes as fed-fry (under 1 gram in size) to finish growing to the smolt stage over the following 1-2 winters before out-migrating to the ocean. A portion are reared at Pillar Creek Hatchery over winter and released into Telrod Cove as smolt to supplement the outmigration of fish that reared in Spiridon Lake.
The Kodiak Road System King Salmon Enhancement Project is a cooperative program between KRAA and ADF&G. Each year the project provides opportunity (opportunity that didn’t previously exist) for sport anglers to catch king salmon returning to the Olds and American rivers and Salonie Creek. In August, KRAA and ADF&G work together to collect up to 250,000 king salmon eggs. The eggs are transported and incubated at Pillar Creek Hatchery. Once hatched, the juveniles will rear at the hatchery for a year before being released as smolt to the aforementioned locations.
Production of coho salmon at Pillar Creek Hatchery is performed as part of a cooperative agreement between KRAA and ADF&G to create sportfishing opportunities on the Kodiak road system in conjunction with chinook and rainbow trout. In October, KRAA and ADF&G work together to collect and transport brood fish to enclosures near the Hatchery. Egg-take occurs in November in another collaborative effort that also includes the Salmon in the Classroom program. Resulting juveniles from the egg-take will rear at Pillar Creek Hatchery for up to a year before being released into Pillar Creek, Monashka Creek, and lakes upstream of Mill Bay and Mission Beach. The fourth grade classes participating in Salmon in the Classroom will each take possession of a small clutch of eggs to incubate and rear in their schools before releasing as fed-fry toward the end of the school year.
Rainbow trout eggs are flown to Kodiak from the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery in Anchorage. Once the eggs are in Kodiak, they are transported to Pillar Creek Hatchery where they will incubate for several months. After hatch, the young rainbows are reared by the PCH staff until they reach 1.0g. At this point ADF&G Sport Fish personnel will transport and release the fry into several lakes (pictured on map) along the Kodiak road system. This cooperative project provides excellent sport fishing opportunity for anglers seeking rainbow trout.
