State budget allocates $2.6 million for Crystal Lake Hatchery improvements

Petersburg's Crystal Lake Hatchery is set to receive $2.6 million in funding as part of the appropriations made in the State of Alaska's FY24 operating budget, which was approved by Gov. Mike Dunleavy on June 19.

The appropriation will fund much needed repairs and upgrades for the hatchery's salmon raceways, a set of concrete canals which house hundreds of thousands of growing salmon and serve as their final home before being released.

But before the hatchery staff can fill the raceways with king and coho salmon during the summer, each crop of fish has to be taken through several stages.

It al...