It is interesting and fun to read everyone's opinions, whether based on science, experience, or what we wish were true. Good genes, bad genes, natural environments and hatchery (unnatural ?) environments, fitness and Darwinian evolution are all mentioned. Underlying the entire conservation is that we humans are like god, we can determine the survival of a species by directed actions that we implement.

In reality our interest is how we can take advantage of that species, Oncorhynchus mykiss in this discussion. From the standpoint of the fish, where the eggs are, where the fry emerge, and where they grow is their environment. Their genetic profile is not one of good and bad genes, in the case of the salmonids it is one with great duplication of genetic makeup which insures adaptation to a new environment in a few generations. Wild fish can become adapted to hatcheries in a few generations and the same can be said of hatchery fish adapting to a non hatchery environment. What is important to recognize is that as a species evolution will tend to maximize the number of individuals in whatever environment will support them. It seems obvious that steelhead, the anadromous O. mykiss have adapted quite well to hatcheries. Their wild counterparts are struggling in their changing environments though resident rainbow in Alaska and some inland water are doing well.

I like to think of these sorts of discussions from the standpoint of the fish. Imagine a few fish in some small tributary to the Yukon discussing humans. There might still be a few wild humans left in their region but they would admit most of the Pacific rim was inhabited by "hatchery humans", mothers well cared for before their birth, born in the artificial environment of a hospital, and reared in carefully controlled conditions, and their lives spent in an environment with few naturally challenging events. How many generations would pass before the ability to survive and reproduce in a new environment would be lost. It would not be many generations, I think the fish will be here long after we are gone.