There are many problems with the way hatcheries are run, but here are the ones that stick out the most for me.


1. In the wild fish dont spawn with there brothers and sisters. At hatcheries the fish are sorted by size and appearance of healthyness but sometime not even that. The eggs and milt are mixed up in a bucket and sha bang there you have a gazillion inbred fish. by chance not all the fish are inbred the first go around but years of breeding the same stock and your eventually going to end up with a bunch of morons, but sometimes I wonder since they are harder to catch than wild fish.

Solution to 1.

How about rotating fish stocks between hatcheries? We all know the technology is there. Its called a tanker truck. For example, haul all of the carefully selected hens from the lewis river to the cowlitz hatchery and exchange them for carefully selected hens from the cowlitz. just that alone would decrease inbreeding drastically but eventually if you only rotate fish between two hatcheries your still going to get inbred fish so rotate the hatchery exchange to every 3 to 4 years. For example first go around would be cowltz/Lewis second go around would be cowlitz/skykomish, Lewis/Skokomish .


2. Hatcheries have been determined to be successful in the past by numbers of returning fish not quality or size. For this reason the fry are held as long as possible to insure better escapement. These larger hatchery fry are big enough too outcompete the native fry by the time they are released. Though because they are released so late it is my hope that the native fish have already left for the ocean but for native fish of a different species that spawn later it must spell doomsday. Also It appears to me that the later the fish are released the smaller they are as adults when they return, they dont seem to stay in the ocean as long as fish that are released at the standard time for the native out migration. Another problem with late release is that many of the fry turn to smolt before they make it to the ocean, If you have ever caught a 6 inch milting jack like I have you know what I am talking about (especially chinook on the cowlitz). These little inbred jacks can be a problem for naturally spawning adults.

Solution to 2.

Kill the late release policy and release the fish when asap. Also dont release the fish all at once. It just aint natural for a gazillion fish to hatch all at once and be concentrated like that in on section of the river! Release them in spurts, give them time to spread out. As far as the there "isnt enough food in the river" excuse, I call B.S on that line. be more aggressive about putting all carcasses back in the river, stop selling our precious carcasses to jail food and dogfood companies! ALL FISH MUST BE RETURNED TO RIVER, ALL! So what if people dont like the smell. to BAD!

3. History shows us that big rivers produce big fish. Rough rivers with tall falls and obstuctions produce strong fish. So why the hell are so many hatcheries built so close to the salt? and why the hell are these rivers so clear of obstructions. Even the so called rehabilitated rivers! Fish need functionnality not something that looks good on paper and is carefully planned!

Solution to 3.

Move hatcheries as far up river as possible. put back the falls and the obstructions that were removed for boat access.Kind of funny that alot (not all) of these fishermen that talk about habitat restoration have taken a chainsaw to cut out log jams and sweepers so they could continue to navigate through the river to fish.
Ouch that ones going to sting.


That it for now