An example is the Quinault steelhead program. Would anyone here like to explain why they keep prediciting gloom and doom on what is apparently a very sucessful hatchery program? 34 years, and so far, the gloom and doomers have been WRONG. How can a program that can produce 30 lb healthy steelhead be a failure?
I haven't read any doom and gloom about the hatchery complexes, but I have read about some of the less than good practices concerning wild fish survival.
Their return rates on the fish are running at 1.7%. This is an okay return rate, but not great. All of this is being funded via our tax dollars and the cost per fish returned is probably running more than $10 per returning adult. I don't know about you, but even with a reasonable wholesale cost of $2.00 per pound, that hatchery isn't doing anything but keeping things afloat.
Additionally, the tribes hatchery practices are potentially weakening wild genetics. Without those strong wild genetics, their programs may end up with significant crashes similar to the Cowlitz or Puyallup on smolt to adult returns.
Finally, you can't just flood the ocean with smolts. If you don't know what's going on in the ocean, flooding it may only limit food available for wild fish and potentially expand the population of predator fish artifically.
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