I'm with Double Haul on this one. Science based evidence in there! Chambers creek hatchery fish are detrimental to wild stocks period!

If you cared about wild steelhead, the threat from hatchery steelhead should be on the bottom of your list of known problems preventing healthy natural steelhead populations.

Perhaps you could put some effort into educating people about the effects of substantial loss of habitat and alteration, dams, dikes, development, agriculture, and logging.

Also, when it can be proved that hatchery programs inhibit the performance of natural PS steelhead, please put me on the mailing list so I can get the evidence.

Hatcheries are one of the 4 H's and has much of a culprit as the others you listed above. The good news is that we have better immediate control how we control hatcheries. The film Wild Reverence will a very big opportunity to educate the public on the plight of wild steelhead and the culprits standing in their way. I highly recommend they view when the opportunity presents itself. We can do better, if we allow our selves and have a little faith.

Saw this on another more informative site and thought that I would post it here

In WFC' suit they claimed that recent average steelhead numbers across Puget sound are approximately 3% of what they were in 1900.

Any review of the available data clearly indicates that big players in that decline has been habitat loss (including hydro power impacts) and declining marine survival. In fact those two account for virtually all of that loss. NMFS at the time of the ESA listing indicated that harvest was not a significant problem. With the sweeping changes in hatchery practice over the last 30 years even hatchery/wild interactions over all have been reduced to very levels.

If we are really concern about the future of Puget Sound steelhead we can continue to nibble around the edges of remaining hatchery and harvest issues which even if completely eliminated would mean almost nothing for the wild steelhead resource or we can step up the plate and attempt to address those things that are limiting our steelhead fishing and any potential opportunities to fish in the future.

Curt

Stopping the planting of hatchery steelhead would have a significant benefit to the early-returning wild fish. The simple presence of "harvestable" hatchery fish allows the co-mingled wild fish to C&R'd or killed in gillnets.

Even if there was absolutely no genetic or ecological conflicts wild fish will still die.

Carcassman, have you ever fished any of these rivers?

I have fished them for 30+ years and have caught maybe 7 natives prior to Jan 15th. There has not been an "early run" in my lifetime.

If not for hatchery fish in these systems a whole bunch of us on this board would have never gotten hooked on Steelhead.

C&R is not the problem. Nets are.

No thanks, I prefer wild steelhead

R&G, The follow up post to that statement.

I think the key word is science-driven management. If the science tells us that hatchery steelhead are a detriment to wild recovery are folks willing to accept that and support it without bias to their opportunity at the expense of wild steelhead or blinded to their economic gains by forsaking wild steelhead for hatchery fish. It all depends on your priorities. My personal priority will always be to put wild steelhead first, to me, there is no substitute and I want them in my future and my children's future. If I don't, I personally feel I would be selling my soul. So in the end, regardless of what I wrote at the top, yes, I am pro wild steelhead and they come before hatchery steelhead in my preferences, but I will whack every hatchery fish I get my hands on to get them out of the system. I hope I don't get the "elitist sucks" , emoticon, but if I do so be it.