I respectfully disagree. The vast majority of studies show hatcheries have a negative impact on wild populations and rarely any lasting effects on population’s, other than negative. One of the best large scale examples is the state of Montana, who’s stream fisheries have become world renowned since abandoning hatchery supplementation and enhancement altogether.
Then there’s the fact that hatchery enhancement has essentially fed the commercial sector which has led to more intense fishing (often mixed stock fishing impacting small populations of chinook, coho and steelhead) than would have been sustainable otherwise, and in fact is now showing that it never was sustainable anyway. Finally, there are the facts California points out - that hatcheries have given a false sense of security for far too long and allowed politicians and industry to continue unsustainable logging, development, mining, agricultural, etc, etc, etc practices and we’re currently paying the price.
Look at all the flooding on the news the past few years - a direct result of watersheds cut to a state they no longer retain water and promote groundwater infiltration like they used to. Along side our changing climate, we’re seeing an earlier, more rapid melt/runoff. These shorter duration, higher intensity freshests are amplified by a vast network of resource roads and poor culvert crossings and ditches that speed up runoff further and add sediment and bedload. Eventually our mountain streams make it to the valley bottoms where agriculture, housing developments and industry have constrained the flood plains so our rivers and streams can no longer meander and redistribute spawning gravels and scour new holding/rearing pools. Instead they’re all dyked and dredged and straightened to protect the infrastructure that shouldn’t have been built in the floodplain in the first place. How long do you think channelized, dyked river systems can remain productive for salmon? Not long!
Probably the scariest piece is the fact our early, wet springs are now followed by longer, drier summers with ever expanding agriculture and development sucking more water from lower base flows over a longer period. Compromised streams with low to no flows simply can’t produce fish anywhere near the productivity of a functioning watershed.
Pro fisher, we do agree that we need to focus on the fundamental issue of salmon productivity and sustainability in this province if we’re ever going to see much recreational fishing access in the future!
Cheers!
Ukee