Let's actually look at successful recovery programs. They (the managers) worked at retaining as much of the original genetic material as possible but in the end the goal was to get animals out there.

European Peregrine Falcons were part of NA recovery. In Whooping Cranes we know that whole lines have been lost, but we are putting out what we have to work with. And, new populations are being returned to areas where they were extirpated. Same with Condors. The whole absolute genetic purity argument is preventing recovery, in my mind. The habitat is changing, even when "intact". What we need is large naturally spawning populations that are able to evolve in the system. But, at the end of the day, wild fish will never meet the consumptive demands of humans, especially if we have to share the fish with pinnipeds and SRKWs. And Grizzlies and wolves.

I worked with some geneticists (fish) who believed that the other recovery programs in other taxa (that actually worked) were wrong because they were not genetically pure. So, they went for purity but apparently not recovery.