Todd
Stay with us a little longer!
You say
Also, it has been shown that one generation in hatchery ponds does indeed separate the wild fish from the hatchery fish...and more generations makes it even worse. That's why the broodstock programs which don't use fish more than a generation away from the wild fish are better, but still will never be as good as the wild fish.
Going back to the Cowlitz one more time! WDFW introduced winter run steelhead stocks that came from outside the basin, starting around 1936. They continued using these "outside stocks" (mostly Chambers) for over 31 more years. The smolt that were planted averaged 3.5/lb (meaning that they most likely had a very good return survival rate back to the Cowlitz). From 1957 to 1967, they planted an average of about 50,000 smolts each year until 1967. From 1967 on, they used only Cowlitz fish for hatchery production. They have used the interbreed prodigy of these fish in mass numbers in the Cowlitz from 1936 to 2000 to supply 100% of the hatcheries production.
During the years from 1972 thru 1979 they took no eggs from the wild native stock during March thru April (that 8 full years) that no eggs from wild native shock were used for all the production of Cowlitz winter steelhead. You have to remember that they were producing enough smolts to achieve a return of 22,000 adult steelhead back to the Cowlitz. Millions of smolt were produced during that time period. Tacoma operated there project in such a way that almost no natural production occurred in the lower Cowlitz below there dams. Harvest was and has been intense on any fish that ever was able to make a redd. In 1984, it was estimated that only 2% of the native winter run steelhead still spawned naturally in the Cowlitz. That was over 20 years ago!
No biologist that isn't on drugs would suggest that these "native" stocks of late winter run steelhead could have survived over this time period with the intense harvest, and hatchery interaction that has occurred on the Cowlitz for the pass 30 years.
If they could have, then no wild fish anywhere is in any danger of extinction! But now WDFW expects us to believe that a "special breed" of supernatural winter run steelhead now exists in enough numbers to be used for a recovery program because of there late return timing, and becuase they represent the true native winter steelhead.
Supposable WDFW did a genetic test that identified a "special" unique fish that only exists in the Cowlitz River! Isn't it strange that neither Tacoma nor WDFW would come up with any "original" DNA to verify that they "match" this supper stock of Cowlitz fish?
So much for that ONE GENNERATION of fish raised in a pond theory!
Cowlitzfisherman
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