The Cost of Trout Fishing

Photo:Brian M. Powell

Douglas M. Thompson  gave up fishing 10 years ago after he saw what a century of stocking nonnative fish was doing to the landscape he loved.

LINK (via: The NY Times)

Hatcheries flow on despite the evidence they harm salmon recovery

Infographic courtesy of Rich Simms and the Wild Steelhead Coalition

Part two of Crosscut's hatchery story.

So, why are hatcheries still an issue? Because, decades after they gained notoriety as one of the factors that threaten salmon recovery,  people still catch salmon for fun and profit, and for most of them, catching a hatchery fish is just as much fun and just as profitable as catching one that didn’t start life in a concrete tank. Besides, to the uninformed eye, there’s not much difference.

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Fish hatcheries: A 19th century fix that won’t die

Part one of a Crosscut series on the resilience of fish hatcheries despite the evidence they are detrimental to wild fish runs.

One might have thought, erroneously, that by the second decade of the 21st century, hatcheries would be on their way out. Decades ago, salmon advocates and detached scientists identified hatcheries as one of the “4Hs” — harvest, hydro, habitat loss and hatcheries — threatening the recovery and even survival of many wild salmon and steelhead populations.

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"This (empty) can may not be kicked down the road endlessly”

Good news and bad news.

A federal judge has declined to limit the number of juvenile spring chinook salmon that state fish managers can release from a hatchery into the McKenzie River.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Tom Coffin ordered the state Department of Fish & Wildlife to set a deadline on when it will signficantly cut the number of McKenzie hatchery-bred fish that mingle and spawn with wild native salmon above Leaburg Dam.

LINK (via:The Register Guard)

What a disappointment

Patagonia Fly Fishing Ambassador Dylan Tomine with a report from the recent Hatchery vs Wild Symposium put on by the American Fisheries Society.

I went down to Portland to check out the Hatchery vs Wild Salmonid Symposium put on by the American Fisheries Society. Given the title, and AFS’ history of fish conservation work (including endorsement of Snake River dam removal) I figured it would be a relatively balanced examination of the science around this issue. What a disappointment.

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Wild is the future!

The Osprey with their yearly reminder that hatcheries don't work.

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