Net pen grounded for repairs near Sandy Beach in Petersburg

PETERSBURG - Early Tuesday morning the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association's floating net pens were being moved into position near the mouth of City Creek, when a structural failure took place. Employees had to move the pen into shallow water along the Sandy Beach tide flats to make repairs.

Crystal Lake Assistant Hatchery Manager Kevin Chase explained that a metal beam came loose and had to be reattached, forcing them to realign and re-bolt the listing structure before continuing.

By 8:30 a.m. the tide was turning and Chase predicted the pen frame would be floating within a couple of hours, allowing the move to continue.

The 40 ft. square galvanized steel frame is attached to blue foam filled polyethylene floats. The pen has steel walkways along the perimeter and when anchored, the frame supports nets that will contain 100,000 King Salmon smolts, which will be released in about a month. The walkways allow employees to feed the young Kings each day prior to their release.

Chase said the containment nets are 20 ft. below the surface inside the structure and a predator barrier net is in place around the outside of the pen. The outside net keeps sea lions and other predators away from the smolt.

The Kings will be making their return to City Creek next month explained Chase. This is the third year SSRAA has reared smolt in the pens, in hopes of creating annual runs of King Salmon up City Creek. The smolt imprint on the water coming from City Creek, insuring their return to the creek to spawn. The Kings are reared at the Crystal Lake Hatchery and are trucked to Petersburg, loaded on a boat and taken to the pens anchored in Frederick Sound, about three-miles from town.

Chase said they found a flasher and hooks used by Steve Burrell attached to one of their anchors while positioning the platform.