China Poot
By Hal Shepherd
In early July, I sat next to "The Rock" near the Fishing Lagoon for some time, looking out over a breezy Mud Bay with swells already approaching one foot. I was contemplating the consequences of paddling my 17-foot kayak alone over to China Poot Bay with a sport net on the stern. I’d had a bad experience the last time I crossed to the other side of the Bay from this location and was having difficulty making up my mind. Ultimately, I decided it couldn't hurt to paddle to the end of the harbor and see what the conditions were like further out, figuring that I could always turn around if it wasn’t ideal.
After reaching that point, I looked out on increasingly calm conditions on the Bay's south side, which was largely protected by the Kenai Mountains from the southeasterly wind. The result was an enjoyable paddle on relatively calm waters over to China Poot Bay, where even the infamous China Poot Rip didn’t materialize.
Those of us who live in Alaska like to think that we are different from the lower 48, living a unique experience that is a privilege of life in the Great North. One would think that paddling across the Bay and then dip netting on the pristine China Poot Creek within the scenic Kachemak Bay State Park, while avoiding the crowds and combat dip netting elsewhere on the Kenai Peninsula, would be one of those experiences. Yet, to get the fabled Sockeye salmon into the babbling China Poot Creek and ultimately, into the nets of dip-netters is largely an artificial, intensively managed process reminiscent of the controversial fish hatchery industry Outside.
The China Poot fishery primarily benefits commercial fisheries. Fish not taken commercially are available for personal use between, traditionally, July 1 through July 31.
Unlike most salmon returning to the Kenai Peninsula, the Sockeye in China Poot don't contribute to natural reproduction because the lake where they are reared is not accessible to returning Sockeye due to a 20-foot waterfall about a quarter mile upstream. This is one of the reasons that the fish returning to China Poot Creek, for the most part, do not spawn - because they cannot reach the location where they were reared. The hatchery program, therefore, is designed for enhancement, not natural colonization. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which manages the fishery, "China Poot is enhanced with Sockeye salmon by the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, paid for by commercial fishers."
Logically, this leads one to believe that the fish reared in the nearby CIAA managed Tukta Bay Lagoon Hatchery are the main supplier for China Poot – a misconception that is often exploited by politicians seeking to gain momentum for pet projects. Due to poor water quality and an infectious viral disease present in the Lagoon, however, Tutka's operations are primarily focused on producing Pink Salmon, which are more tolerant of substandard conditions. As a result, while the eggs of the Sockeye returning to China Poot are collected at Tutka, they are actually reared in the Trail Lakes Hatchery near Moose Pass, 140 to the east by road.
To ensure fish return to China Poot Creek, the fry are incubated, hatched, and fed with pellets at Trail Lakes and later transported to Leisure Lake—located above the Creek—for rearing and imprinting. Periodic fertilization using nutrient-rich compounds helps stimulate zooplankton growth, providing an abundant food source for the developing fry. Sockeye fry typically require one to two years of exposure to freshwater to reach the smolt stage, at which point they undergo physiological changes—known as smoltification—that enable them to survive in saltwater. This process includes osmoregulation, where their bodies adjust to regulate salt and water balance. To facilitate this transition, smolt are removed from Leisure Lake and released into lensing bags in Tutka Bay Lagoon, which provides the salinity conditions to support smolt development. After release from Tutka Lagoon, the salmon migrate into the ocean for up to four years to mature.
Salmon returning to China Poot Creek must also osmoregulate from saltwater to freshwater as part of a physiological preparation for spawning. These returning adults are once again netted and complete the osmoregulation process in artificial lensing bags, which are filled with freshwater from Tutka Creek, allowing them to mature and prepare for spawning. Not only can Sockeye not be incubated or reared directly in the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery due to the presents of disease, but the lensing bag process is not ideal either due to interruption of freshwater flow to or breaches in the bags that result in levels of mortality exceeding regulatory requirements.[1] This situation has caused some to conclude that the Hatchery can be hazardous not only to Sockeye but to the entire Kachemak Bay Watershed. According to Nancy Hilstrand, "The facts are Tutka hatchery produces a pink salmon monoculture desecrating Kachemak Bay State Park and Critical Habitat Area as a feed lot."
In the 70s and 80s, Kachemak Bay was known as "one of the richest bays in the world," featuring king crab and shrimp, trophy-sized Halibut, and King Salmon, as well as over one hundred species of mollusks that were never recorded anywhere else on earth. Now, thanks to over-fishing, incompatible management practices, hatcheries, climate change, and politics, many of these species have all but disappeared.
Could the Bay ever be returned to its original legendary productivity? The Kachemak Bay Watershed Council has proposed restoring Tutka Bay Lagoon as part of this strategy. In fact, despite its current degraded condition, as a geologic ecosystem, the Lagoon’s potential as a cradle of floral and faunal resources qualifies it as a Special Purpose Site under Article VIII section 7 of the Alaska Constitution. As such the Lagoon may be reserved by the legislature "from the public domain and provide for their administration and preservation for the use, enjoyment" and benefit of all Alaskans. Similarly, the implementing legislation for Kachemak Bay State Park applies to Tutka Bay Lagoon by providing that the Park is intended to "protect and preserve…major values of floral, faunal and geological characteristics." Restoration of Tutka Bay Lagoon would not only reverse “deadly problems” for Sockeye but would help to preserve the values for which the Kachemak Bay State Park and Critical Habitat area were established.
Arriving at China Poot Creek after the five-mile paddle across Kachemak and then China Poot Bay, at the base of the Kenai Mountain Range and deep in the heart of State Park, I grabbed my net, stopped at the very first set of rapids just above the "No Dip-Netting Below this Sign" and limited out with six handsome Reds in less than an hour.
Still a uniquely Alaskan experience, for the most part.
[1] Glenn Hollowell, ADF&G's 2018 FMR 19-23.
I'm learning some geography and more, Hal--thanks for enlarging my world.