There is no subsistence fishery in Port Valdez. However, VFDA does conduct a small stocking of salmon for its Alutiiq neighbors that traditionally rely on salmon as a customary food source.
Under a cooperative agreement with the Tatitlek IRA, VFDA transports 20,000 coho salmon smolt each year to the Native Village of Tatitlek, located approximately 25 air miles from Valdez.
Once on site, the smolt is carefully transferred to a small ocean net pen where village residents feed and care for them until they are ready to release. Then each fall, about 1500 adults return to provide for a subsistence harvest for the village residents.