Study doubts hatchery fish reproduction ability

Tor-Eddie Fossbakk According to the research, offspring obtained strictly from farmed fish have around half the reproductive fitness as fish reared in a hatchery for only a single generation. Michael Blouin, an OSU associate professor of zoology told the Curry Coastal Pilot online, "There is now no question that using fish of hatchery ancestry to produce more hatchery fish quickly results in stocks that perform poorly in nature." According to the research, the decrease in the ability to reproduce is due to a combination of genetics and natural selection. The evolutionary process selects certain characteristics suitable for fish living in a protected environment such as a hatchery, but unsuitable for the fish-eat-fish world of the wild. Andrew Van Scoyk, hatchery manager of Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery, told the Curry Coastal Pilot that “the major differences between steelhead at Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery and the hatchery steelhead released into Hood River are the hereditary contrasts between the fish and the hatchery's mating practices.” "We never mate two hatchery fish," he said. "Whenever possible, we always prefer to mate two wild fish. We also mate different sizes and ages of fish to keep the gene pool mixed up. Finally, we clip the adipose fin (small fleshy fin on the fish's back behind the dorsal fin) so we know, and fisherman know, what fish are wild and what fish are farmed." In the study, Blouin states that hatcheries have a place in fisheries management.