20 Dec Press Release: Susan Doherty Hired as New General Manager

Posted at 10:25h in News by

December 20, 2021

PRESS RELEASE:

The Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA) has hired Susan Doherty as its general manager.  Doherty will be the fifth general manager to run the association since it was created in 1976.

Doherty has a long history with SSRAA.  In 1980 she came through Ketchikan to visit a friend on her way further north for a job with Prince William Sound Aquaculture.  An emergency at the Whitman Lake hatchery created a need for some immediate, short-term help, and Doherty jumped in to help. Impressed with her work, supervisors offered her a seasonal position, which then grew into a full-time, year-round position.  By the time she left SSRAA in 2017, she was the research and evaluation manager, responsible for a team of employees, tasked with gathering and analyzing data on all aspects of SSRAA’s aquaculture programs.

Following her departure from SSRAA, Doherty became the executive director for the Southeast Alaska Seiners (SEAS).  Her role at SEAS gave her additional experience in fisheries advocacy, data evaluation, and fisheries management, all of which will benefit SSRAA as Doherty steps into her new role.

Doherty says “I’m proud to have been part of the innovation of the aquaculture program not only at SSRAA, but across the state, during the early years. I’m honored to re-insert that “adapt and evolve” strategy into the challenges that face not only SSRAA but the aquaculture program as a whole moving forward”.

SSRAA currently operates seven hatcheries in southern southeast Alaska, with an additional 6 remote release sites scattered throughout the region.  The association typically produces up to 235 million juvenile salmon for release annually, paid for through a 3% salmon enhancement tax levied on commercial salmon catches in the region, as well as cost recovery activities that take place at various SSRAA sites throughout southern southeast.

Doherty will take the helm January 22nd and will replace outgoing SSRAA General Manager, David Landis.