F5A

If you haven't read James Lichatowich's "Salmon Without Rivers" get a hold of a copy or borrow one from your local library. Todd's discussion will make a whole lot more sense to you.

Re: why not release broodstock progeny as fry? A little history is in order. It used to be that all hatchery programs in WA released their hatchlings as fry. This was done willie nillie with wild eggs mined by the millions from here, there, and everywhere without regard for the drainage-specific adaptations and traits of the egg source.

Hatchery managers felt their only charge was to "help" get those eggs past the perils of natural hatching, then turn bazillions of the little buggers loose into whatever river they wished to "enhance". These guys would pat themselves on the back and celebrate their ability to seemingly manufacture salmon at will. And why did they need to do this? As Todd already stated above, to feed an insatiable commercial fishery. The only problem is they measured their success solely by the number of eggs hatched, and never once considered how many (or more correctly how pitifully few) adults actually returned as a result of their efforts. As long as wild salmon continued to ascend the Columbia and other major salmon superhighways, fish managers could continue to take the credit for producing that bounty. WHAT A CROCK!

When runs like the Columbia began to crash, the answer was... you guessed it... mine more eggs for more hatchery "production." When runs still failed to rebound, someone surmised that perhaps we could do better by "helping" more of those bazillions of fry to actually make it to the ocean. Suddenly hatcheries were retaining their hatchlings all the way to smolt stage, and thus here we sit today.

Those in-the-know tell us that "improved" hatchery practices using locally adapted broodstock is the way to go. Now the question is whether to release them as fry or smolt? If we really want to mimic wild productivity (as measured by returning adult progeny), then the answer is obvious.... release them as fry.

The real question is whether those returns will truly fare better under a scenario of mining wild broodstock eggs for artificial hatching versus one of natural spawning. It is a dangerous human conceit to assume we can always "improve" upon Mother Nature. Before spending bazillions of dollars on ever more artificial propogation, the practice must held accountable. Hatchery mangers must demonstrate that technology can actually deliver on the promise of "improved" productivity over what would otherwis occur in nature. Sadly, such evidence is sorely lacking.

Sorry, I suffer from the same affliction as Todd when it comes to these long-winded posts. Hard to really get to the heart of these complex issues using 4th grade reading-level sound-bytes.