Salmo G it is my opinion that the only way to know if a hatchery program has successfully restored a run of fish is for the hatchery program to stop producing fish.. At that time you can measure the results by what comes back in the following years.. Based on everything i have read the reasonable thing to expect to happen is a sudden decline in the overall population with no offspring of the hatchery raised fish left.. very few Bio'd will say that but thats what all their studying points to..
I have conversed with one of the bio's from LLTK and i think their ambitions are very noble however I think it's wise to wait for an experiment to run it's course before claiming that hatcheries have any chance of restoring wild runs.. To me a run being prolonged a few years by a hatchery doesn't mean much if at the end of the program there are no wild fish to show for it..

I am sorry i cannot be optomistic on these kinds of issues because i see no reason for optimism. I have yet to see a government agency despite the best intentions do anything positive for wild fish in the long term.. Especially WDFW!!

I am not anti hatchery.. I am pro wild fish and near as I can tell from all the available science the two positions cannot be reconciled. I really wish they could but i am not willing to rest my hope on a "risky and unproven" method..

ALL hatcheries are genetically selective it is impossible to avoid.. No matter what you do or where your broodstock comes from the hatchery enviroment will ALWAYS ( every single time) select fish that are better suited for survival in the hatchery setting. it's something you simply cannot get around..

If hatcheries had the ability to restore self sustaining wild runs I'd be all for that and maybe someday they will.. but in the mean time we have to rely on other methods and we aren't!!! it seems to me like every government agency is only looking at hatcheries and only giving other options minor lip service.. Thats why you see me yelling about hatcheries all the time..