Harper, wasn't it?
Fisheries habitat being steadily eroded, panel told
Federal government policy is failing, says Fisheries Department experts
www.theglobeandmail.com
Resistance to fish hatcheries?
- Thread starter Ling Slinger
- Start date
www.theglobeandmail.com
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Survey from DFO went out to hatcheries, and volunteeer groups last week. Look at what is highlighted.
rapid
Active Member
With the $ collected from licenses/tags (won't get into the mass gov over spend in every other area) all hatcheries should have more funding and support. Especially where folks are donating their time (time is a persons most precious resource IMO).
There are really only 3 ways anyone can impact salmon stocks the 3 H's...... Habitat, Hatchery & Harvest.
The other 99% of the equation happens in the deep blue sea out of our control!
There are really only 3 ways anyone can impact salmon stocks the 3 H's...... Habitat, Hatchery & Harvest.
The other 99% of the equation happens in the deep blue sea out of our control!
Have we gotten anywhere near the original goals of the SEP which was to return salmon abundance to near historical (ie 1900) levels via artificial enhancement? No! In the interim the genetic diversity and abundance of hundreds of watersheds has been drastically eroded or even lost. The SEP was an absolute failure.
The number of juvenile salmon released out of Canadian hatcheries is a fraction of what is released by other countries either from hatcheries or commercial salmon ranching.
The real problem was believing hatchery fish could replace wild stocks . They are not at all equivalent in quality or quantity. While some hatcheries seems to succeed ( the Chilliwack; Roberstson Creek) other are failures and have been closed. They are a path on the route to extinction. Community hatcheries on streams where wild production has been seriously compromised by habitat loss seem a path to true enhancement.
The number of juvenile salmon released out of Canadian hatcheries is a fraction of what is released by other countries either from hatcheries or commercial salmon ranching.
The real problem was believing hatchery fish could replace wild stocks . They are not at all equivalent in quality or quantity. While some hatcheries seems to succeed ( the Chilliwack; Roberstson Creek) other are failures and have been closed. They are a path on the route to extinction. Community hatcheries on streams where wild production has been seriously compromised by habitat loss seem a path to true enhancement.
And as sure as this came true I can tell you that only a few years after the last hatchery gets closed the last salmon will die in these streams.
There is an abundance of scientific information that indicates hatchery reproduction genetically alters at least some salmonid species from there wild parents. This isn't even taking into account the loss of months or even years of in stream survival skills necessary for them to return as adults and spawn. Here are some links that support the hypothesis that hatchery reared fish have dramatically lower survival rates:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10641-011-9783-5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352433/
http://kintama.com/wp-content/uploa...rvival-difference-between-wild-and-hatche.pdf
Marine survival difference between wild and hatchery-reared steelhead trout determined during early down stream migration
In BC since the SEP hatcheries went on line anglers both in tidal and non-tidal water have reported perceived negative differences between hatchery salmon and the wild salmon they largely replaced; they were smaller, they migrated from the ocean to freshwater faster, they traveled deeper in the water column, they were less inclined to bite.
My own experience with cutthroat trout, coho and steelhead (hard to compare chinook since they are not marked) is that hatchery fish are usually significantly smaller, weaker (ie pull on the line) and visibly appeared less fit than wild fish . By less fit I mean thinner for their length, and more frequent damage to fins and skin.
Another concern is that hatchery fish by sheer weight of numbers may over compete for habitat, feed and spawning space, both in stream and in the ocean.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10641-011-9783-5
Wild chinook salmon survive better than hatchery salmon in a period of poor production
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352433/
Fitness of hatchery-reared salmonids in the wild
http://kintama.com/wp-content/uploa...rvival-difference-between-wild-and-hatche.pdf
Marine survival difference between wild and hatchery-reared steelhead trout determined during early down stream migration
I'd also note that this study found that hatchery steelhead smolts took 10 times longer to transit the river to the estuary than wild fish and had 3x the in river mortality.
In BC since the SEP hatcheries went on line anglers both in tidal and non-tidal water have reported perceived negative differences between hatchery salmon and the wild salmon they largely replaced; they were smaller, they migrated from the ocean to freshwater faster, they traveled deeper in the water column, they were less inclined to bite.
My own experience with cutthroat trout, coho and steelhead (hard to compare chinook since they are not marked) is that hatchery fish are usually significantly smaller, weaker (ie pull on the line) and visibly appeared less fit than wild fish . By less fit I mean thinner for their length, and more frequent damage to fins and skin.
Another concern is that hatchery fish by sheer weight of numbers may over compete for habitat, feed and spawning space, both in stream and in the ocean.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Hey I saw this link on springer somewhere on a similar FB discussion. That's interesting.
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Large-scale fish hatcheries hurting Chinook salmon populations, report finds
A new report is out on the health of B.C.’s southern Chinook salmon population, and findings are grim.
vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca
I have heard that Robertson Creek chinook stock have displaced or genetically contaminated (compromised) virtually every wild chinook stock on the central West Coast of the Island. Bob Hooton in his book Days of River past stated the entire chinook run on the Gold has been replaced by Robertson Creek stock. He called the Robertson Creek hatchery an example of how not to manage a hatchery.Large-scale fish hatcheries hurting Chinook salmon populations, report finds
A new report is out on the health of B.C.’s southern Chinook salmon population, and findings are grim.vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Oh look tonight Robertson Creek is another target now.
So now Bob's getting quoted..... this getting more interesting.
Keep shoveling....Hey maybe you could bring up your theory on that all the anglers took all the big springs because they are close too shore, and that is why there are no big fish anymore.
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Derby
Crew Member
Oh Aaron perhaps you should just go to your Watershed Watch board meeting & peddle you nonsense...... As I see it if you and your band of MC clowns had your way you would shut everything down go wild only and then watch everything starve to death .. there is balance to be had perhaps meeting half way would be a great start...
Aaron? Funny stuff, Derby - but strangely enough this does lead one down the path of understanding the ties between WWS and SkeenaWild, as I posted on another thread.... (and they started w steelheaders...)
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
do you know Aaron AA?
Tail-chaser
Member
Bobs word is gospel. If you don't believe him just ask him!
Genetic analysis reveals differences in mate choice between wild and hatchery coho salmon
NEWPORT, Ore. – A new study of the genetic profiles of wild and hatchery coho salmon demonstrates important distinctions in how the two types of fish form mating pairs. These findings by Oregon State University researchers provide new insight into subtle differences between wild and hatchery...
Differences in Mate Pairings of Hatchery- and Natural-Origin Coho Salmon Inferred from Offspring Genotypes
Synopsis. Captive breeding can affect how sexual selection acts on subsequent generations. One context where this is important is in fish hatcheries. In ma
academic.oup.com
searun
Well-Known Member
Exactly....and I would add after listening to Dr. Carl Walters, that the declines in salmon abundance are more largely attributed to increasing abundance of seals and sea lions beyond any historic levels. Unfortunately FN's harvest historically held the level of pinniped populations to about half where they are today. No amount of intervention to improve habitat, hatcheries or harvest appear to be able to arrest the decline. We are now in a death spiral that cannot be stopped using the current conventional wisdom approaches.
Bryan Allen
Well-Known Member
The Cons killed it.
and the "business-friendly", and conservative in everything but name - provincial Liberals under Gordon Campbell, calved the Fishery Renewal BC program circa 2002 nearly at the same time that the federal conservatives pulled HRSEP circa 2004:
searun
Well-Known Member
Yup, Campbell's Liberals were extremely short-sighted killing the Habitat Restoration Program. Funded by logging stumpage, which helped restore habitat while also addressing US calls for tariffs to stop BC's subsidization of the Forest sector. We were killing (bad choice of words) 2 birds with one stone there.
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