Been reading this forum for years now. Now this latest scam comes down from DC. And wouldn't you know it, the exact same people who are going to war against WSR are sitting here arguing that a fish is a fish is a fish.

Is a zoo tiger the same as a wild tiger??? Same blood, same fur, same teeth. Yup, my BIO 101 class tells me that it's a tiger. How about taking that zoo tiger and releasing it into the wild? What happens? It dies because it does not know how to fend for itself- IT CAN'T HUNT TO FEED ITSELF. But now the guvmint (not scientists, but the damn courts???) tells me that a zoo tiger is identical to it's wild counterpart and will be counted as part of the world population. See, no more tiger problems because they aren't going extinct any time soon. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Start breeding a handful of zoo tigers to increase population and not add any new blood. All the relatives are having cubs, endlessley recycling the same genetic materials. Now what do you end up with??? Eventually these inbreed jeds (ya with me plunker?) are going to develop some serious problems and that will be the end of the tiger population. Kind of like all the eggs in one basket.

Hatchery fish work the exact same way.

If a good % of people who spend their time caring about or harvesting salmonids don't even know the difference between hatch or wild fish, are the 'esteemed gentlemen' in DC going too?? (And may all the greedy ba$tards who sell their souls, either on purpose or ignorantly, ROT IN ETERNAL DAMNATION) Of course not, and with one swoop of the pen, all is now well. Move forth and multiply as we can mitigate through hatcheries. Somewhere in the past century our guvmint has played this exact scene...history does repeat itself.

I agree that the ESA has been abused- but from boths ends. The guvmint has failed to act upon the science by getting the riverine ecosystems locked up in a quagmire of 'studies', buying time for some legal precedence and go full scale policy. Bingo, 30+ years of scientific study, with minimal change to the status quo, and a couple of years after the Hogan decision this comes out???

Does this mean 'we' will give up??? Hell no, this is not going to end with DC making BS policy about something they know nothing about. The biggest long term investment we have is our kids. Mine are being taught at home, AND IN SCHOOL, that this world is all we have and that extinction IS PERMANENT. There is more to this life than paper, electricity, and oil.

William

PS- Hatchery smolts DO NOT return as adults anywhere near as efficiently as Wild fish. It is pretty pathetic, all things considered.