hatchery fish have been mass planted in our rivers for decades. Very rarely have they been fish from local broodstocks
These hatchery steelhead have had extremely poor reproductive rates to the adult life stage. This has helped to keep our wild stocks pure
To date all of the studies that have been done that compare hatchery stocks to wild stocks from the same river have been based on
genetic samples attained from Juveniles. However these are juveniles that do not truly represent the reprducing population because thoes produced by
hatchery parents rarely survive to adulthood! This means that there has been very little hatchery genetics that has contributed to the exsisting gene pool.
That little bit that has has passed on similar genetic traits that the wild fish already have.

Therefore our wild fish of today are much more like the wild fish from 200 years ago that they are of hatchery fish today.
Thoes who say that there is no such thing as a truly wild fish are completely and absolutely wrong! Like it or not thats the way it is.