Hatcheries
Hatchery fish increase disease rates and reduce diversity of wild stocks. Domestication reduces the hatchery fish's ability to survive in the wild. Also, releasing large numbers of hatchery fish in a system with depressed wild stocks could put pressure on the overall food base and may increase the competition for rearing space and cover from predators. Finally, when hatchery fish spawn in the wild, they can dilute the gene pool of wild fish and reduce genetic fitness. Nevertheless, we need hatchery fish for food. Without hatchery fish, there would be no way to relieve the pressure on native and wild salmon and steelhead.

A century of mismanagement - Hatcheries
Our historical use of hatcheries has been catastrophic. Just some of our failures include:

1.  Believing we can sustain a hatchery crop of fish without relying on native genetics
2.  mixing stocks across basins
3.  failing to evaluate the effectiveness of artificial propagation
4.  making decisions based on best politics and not best biology
5.  stripping millions of eggs from wild and native spawners
6.  allocating egg stock as political rewards
7.  a lack of understanding of the life cycle of the salmon
8.  releasing millions of frye into streams to compete with native and
     wild stocks and further depleting nutrient deficient streams.

We need hatcheries. Selective harvest means little if there is no hatchery fish to select. We are pleased that the administration is looking at a systematic evaluation and overhaul of the hatchery system.