Problems of Fish Hatcheries

A detailed Summary of Problems of Fish Hatcheries

Hatcheries, Once the Answer, Now the Problem

Throughout the last 150 years salmon populations have been continuously dropping, originally because of the rampant overfishing of the late 19th century, and currently because of habitat loss due to hydropower dams and poor logging practices. The primary intervention used to increase the salmon population has been hatcheries. It was thought that they would solve the problem of decreased salmon populations, hatcheries actually lead to the destruction and decline of wild salmon stocks. There are unfortunately many consequence now realized about salmon hatcheries. Little scientific research was done about the future populations of salmon and the genetic effects the hatcheries would have. Therefore statistics in regards to their future populations could not be found.

The initial problem with the hatchery approach is that instead of dealing with the reasons behind the depletion of salmon we developed a "quick fix." Essentially, instead of cleaning up the rivers and reducing dams on major migratory paths we decided to "grow" our own salmon to replace the dying species. In 1948 Paul Needham, Oregon's Chief of Fisheries, publicly announced the idea that "hatcheries can take the place of

natural production of salmon." The Science journal states in 1977 that "man should view edible aquatic products (including salmon) as fruits of a system that not only can be exploited, but whose management can be planned and controlled at every level of the production pyramid." What we have found is that although hatchery salmon may look like wild salmon genetically they are a hybrid. In fact it has been proposed to take the hatchery type of salmon off of the endangered species list because they are so genetically different from the native salmon species.

Currently the treatment of the future of Oregon's salmon has changed dramatically from the hatchery approach to one of restoration. The new approach depends on the success of salmon restoration projects. One problem is that half of the salmon habitat in Oregon is in private ownership. By getting these private owners involved salmon restoration can really begin. Currently some private owners are helping with the restoration process by planting trees along the river banks, building shallow lakes for fry to develop before they head out to the ocean, and by making hatchery boxes for salmon fry at the edge of creeks.

In the 1970's people felt that the trouble with t

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Approximate Word count = 826
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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Problems of Fish Hatcheries

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