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

In the 1970's scientists realized that they knew little about the genetics of the salmon. They were mainly interested in manipulating the genetics to develop a salmon that would, "almost certainly be able to select for physiologically superior growth." (Science Journal 1977) Although hatcheries were created in the hope of supplementing the numbers of diminishing wild stocks of salmon, they have been more of a means to an end of the wild salmon populations. For instance, hatchery fish have a limited gene pool which leads toward uniformity. Some hatchery fish may be so different from the wild populations that they are unable to breed with each other. Hatchery fish also do not have the genetics to survive without the continued intervention of hatchery systems.

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

Some common words found in the essay are:
Answer Throughout, Science Journal, Chief Fisheries, Trout Currently, Sports Illustrated, Oregon Trout, Fish Wildlife, Oregon Legislation, oregon trout, Jim Williams, wild salmon, salmon populations, salmon hatcheries, hatchery fish, fish wildlife, Department Fish, salmon population hatcheries, population hatcheries, private owners, salmon restoration, journal 1977, department fish wildlife, science journal 1977,
Approximate Word count = 833
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)