We are certainly on the same page with the need to protect and restore fish habitat and on the importance of hatcheries in the short term and I think most likely in the long term.
50 years ago there were 3 billion people on the planet and in thirty years there will be 10 billion. Some theorize that human population growth may begin to stabilize at that point as the entire planet becomes developed (developed countries have slower population growth than undeveloped countries) but many others do not think so.
In Canada with our current governments we seem hell bent on poisoning our rivers, extracting water and spawning gravel and turning every salmon river and stream into a power plant while introducing alien species such as Atlantic salmon.
I do not subscribe to the environmental dogma that man should never intervene in nature and should just stay out of the way and nature/other species will recover although I acknowledge it is a widely held belief.
This belief seems to be based in guilt for all the negative impacts on other species humans have caused because we evolved to invent technology and as a species cannot control our own population growth which has lead to a great many negative consequences for other species.
Man will never become just an observer of nature. We are a pinnacle predator and will continue to be a part of nature. We will continue to grow our population most likely until we exhaust resources and food supply and in so doing continue to negatively impact most other species. Most other species on the planet (plant and animal) are or will become a food source or other resource for humans. Dig up a copy of an old movie called "Soylent Green". It was thought provoking even in its day and the premise may be even more relevent in todays world now that our population curve is almost vertical.
I believe not only that we should in some circumstances further intervene in nature, but that we have an obligation to attempt to do so where we can to mitigate, reduce or at least delay the damage to other species our own species uncontrolled population growth has caused.
In fact we have done it successfully many times and are doing it daily. For example, the endangered Vancouver Island Marmot captive breeding and release program. In doing so we have brought back a significant number of species from the brink of human caused extinction and captured, transported and restored some species to ranges they were once eradicated from by man such as wolves in Yellowstone Park which was an attempt to restore historical balance to that ecosystem.
Perhaps we should not have intervened and let some of those species go extinct but I disagree with that point of view.
Sure nature will eventully rebalance for mans population curve but I think it is going to take one of histories largest mass extinctions including possibly that of humans to do it. That is natures way; it won't be pretty and it won't be the planets first mass extinction. 99+% of all species that ever existed on this planet are now extinct.
Good post Rockfish and I agree with much of what you say, including the possibility that mankind's growing numbers are going to trigger another "mass extinction" which will one day show up in the fossil record.
I understand what you are saying about "damage repair efforts". I have just left the Grand Canyon where they have re-introduced the condor via a captive breeding program. There were none when I was here 30 years ago and it was great to see them soaring over the canyon walls again. However, the ultimate aim is still to build a self sustaining population and leave them to do their thing.
However, that is a different model from the current hatchery one which is to "replace", not "repair". Whereas, I am saying, like in the examples you quote and the condor example, the aim should be only to "repair" and then get out of the way.
Another example of misguided "lets control and manage Nature" efforts is fire suppression. Decades of forest fire suppression led to tree disease, lack of soil nutrients, loss of deer browsing habitats and huge build up of combustible dead fall, leading to the massive conflagrations like in Yellowstone in the 80's. Down here in the U.S. at least they have realised that fire is all part of the natural cycle and now use controlled burns in all the Parks down here to restore habitat, including the Grand Canyon.
So in conclusion, mankind may be able to augment and repair, but we can never "do better" or "manage" the environment better. It is self managing because it has had all those millions of years of evolution to perfect the management systems!!
