WRONG!
While the progeny of that pairing will hatch as gravel-borne wild fish, the story does NOT end there.
Those wild-borne hybrids co-mingle with truly wild fish.... competing for territory and sustenance, consuming resources within a riverine rearing habitat limited by a fixed carrying capacity. But because of their crappy genes, they fail to make it thru the relentless selection pressures presented at each life stage (fry/smolt/marine subadult/returning spawner), and few if any actually survive to reproductive adulthood.... in most cases, that number is statistically indistinguishable from ZERO!
The hatchery lineage is a genetic dead end unto itself. Allowing it to pollute the population of wild fish thru stray H x W pairings effectively squelches the reproductive potential of the wild fish in the pair. Collectively, the overall effect for the entire escapement is diminished adult recruitment from that brood year. The greater the hatchery stray rate onto the spawning grounds, the greater the reproductive loss.
Hence my crusade that ALL hatchery fish MUST die!
Sorry, Doc, I'm not wrong. You are making generalizations. Yes, the evidence exists from countless studies that reproductive success can go down with hatchery-wild reproductive interactions, thus there will be a slightly diminished egg-to-adult survival rate compared to purely wild offspring. This all happens in the first generation, but what's happening in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation? Hmm...
On the other hand, there are studies showing how hatchery fish may actually be supporting or supplementing wild populations throughout the entire north Pacific. IDFG is doing perhaps the most comprehensive study ever done with hatchery-wild interactions with steelhead and spring chinook. Interesting stuff. Entire wild populations of fish are being floated by these inferior hatchery fish. We've argued on this subject before with the feasibility of reintroducing fish to a system only with hatchery fish. Many people claim that no system can be recovered with hatchery fish. I presented the information on the Clearwater River (ID) spring and fall chinook population being extirpated, and later successfully recovered with Salmon River (ID) hatchery stocks. Their genes have changed just in the last 20 or so years. Now there is a healthy population of wild spring chinook throughout the entire Clearwater system. In fact, a large proportion of wild fish that you guys are releasing on the LCR are bound for the Clearwater system.
Look, I'm not advocating the destruction of wild steelhead. In fact, quite the opposite. My livelihood depends on the little buggers. I'm just willing to admit that there's a fine line between preserving fishing opportunity and preserving wild salmon and steelhead. Have we found that fine line? No, I don't think so. Everyone who has half a brain knows that harvest cannot be sustained solely on wild fish. I'm worried that in just a few years the only hatchery fishing opportunity in WA and OR will be in the Columbia targeting Idaho fish.
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