Interesting news out of Oregon State University.
A recent study concludes that “Steelhead trout that are originally bred in hatcheries are so genetically impaired that, even if they survive and reproduce in the wild, their offspring will also be significantly less successful at reproducing.”
Perhaps more interesting is the title given by one news source; “Farmed Fish Harm Wild Gene Pool”.
“Farmed fish”? Was this title created to capture headlines, capitilizing on the wild vs farmed fish controversy. Or is it acknowledgement of the fact that hatchery fish are not wild, and therefore farmed. We digress…
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, raise concerns about programs to supplement wild populations of
salmon and steelhead by releasing young hatchery fish near spawning grounds, the paper reported. Unlike conventional hatcheries, supplementation programs try to integrate the hatchery populations into wild populations, many protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Wow, sounds nasty. So scary.
But Peter Galbreath, a fishery scientist with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, plugs in a bit of common sense and forgotten history into the story. “It’s important to remember that hatchery supplementation is a response to declining or depressed salmon populations, not the cause,” he mentions.
Thank you Peter. Yes, let’s not forget that “aquaculture”, whether it be hatcheries, fish ranches or farms, began because whatever we were doing at the time, wasn’t working. (a Dr. Phil quote would fit perfectly here)
The solutions may not be perfect, but they are a hell of a lot better than continuing to hunt and gather every last sea creature in the ocean. Important to remember the next time you read a scary, search engine optimized title about the ills of aquaculture.
Wow… you seem to be almost hopelessly conflating elements of salmon & steelhead decline. “…hatcheries, fish ranches or farms, began because whatever we were doing at the time wasn’t working.” What we were “doing at the time” was deforesting watersheds, mining without thought to the damage it was doing, damming rivers, overfishing the rivers, and not protecting salmon from being overfished in the ocean. Hatcheries were seen as a panacea to mitigate bad resource management, but when they first became popular, the intricate genetics of these anadromous fish wasn’t understood. These are facts you should be including in your writing. If your side has strong arguments, they can withstand a more complete presentation of facts.