Originally Posted By: eyeFISH
Originally Posted By: McMahon

As has been discussed "on the other board" the Snake River falls were returning in the triple digits. There were 2 choices to make: let the stock go extinct or conduct a recovery program that would inevitably mean hatchery production.

Is this clear enough to you, or should I explain it a different way?


Crystal clear.

But at what point is the population considered recovered? And at what point, if ever, does the hatchery program stop? Or is it really just another harvest hatchery?

Recovery implies the run is restored to a "healthy" number that is self-sustaining. At which point a hatchery is no longer required to "support" the run. Anyone think that's really gonna happen?

And lastly, now that the hatchery component is part of the ESA-listing for this stock, does stopping the hatchery production constitute a man-caused assault/threat to "recovery" of the ESU?

Things that make ya go HMMMMMMMM.....

Salmo g?



The ESA didn't grant the SR falls special status. The ESA always makes no distinction between hatchery origin and natural origin fish -- for a reason. If the ESA didn't allow H.O. fish to be part of the population then many recovery efforts around the U.S. from wolves to ferrets would be null and void because the population wouldn't be up to the purists' standards.

Believe it or not, genetic integrity can be maintained, despite what the purists say. The Red Fish Lake recovery program is a good example of how clever manipulation can be used to achieve diversity. There are some other recovery programs that had good success with keeping allelic frequency high.