Thieves tap Kodiak king salmon brood stock

KODIAK - A program to enhance king salmon fishing in Kodiak rivers suffered a setback when vandals went fishing within the program's brood stock.

State sport fishing biologist Donn Tracy says someone on Sunday dismantled the lid from an in-stream holding pen and sifted through captured king salmon, likely trying to find one to take home to eat.

Tracy says biologists usually have to worry about otters or Kodiak bears going after the king salmon, which often weigh 25 pounds or more, when they return to Monashka Bay Creek.

Tracy says the vandals had to disarm an electric fence set up to discourage bears, then take apart the top of a 12-by-6-foot in-stream cage.

Fertilized eggs from the salmon are hatched, and after a year, fingerlings are placed in the Olds and American rivers.