95 years down the drain

Will more states start to look at shuttering hatcheries as a way to cope with budget shortfalls?

The ODFW is shuttering the Butte Falls Hatchery which has been operation for 95 years. Unfortunately they are are also cutting the Western Oregon Streams Protection Program which worked on fish-enhancement projects.

More than half of the ODFW's 15 million general fund budget goes to running and maintaining the 9 state operated hatcheries.

LINK (Via: The Mail Tribune)

Tide turning against Columbia Basin hatcheries?

Federal fish biologists today issued their most thorough evaluation to date of the effects of hatchery fish on wild salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia River Basin, signaling that hatchery funding and production could be cut to better protect wild runs.

LINK (Via: Oregon Live)

The Definition of Insanity

The council says the goal of the hatchery is provide a salmon harvest for Colville tribal members whose historic fishery was wiped out by the construction of Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams.

LINK (Via: KATU)

Hatchery fish have their place, but is the Makenzie River the place?

Oregon’s blue-ribbon Metolius and Deschutes rivers are examples of a rapid recovery of wild populations after the elimination of hatchery plants. The state’s own McKenzie management policy spells out the road to recovery in a single, easy step: Remove stocked trout from the McKenzie. All we need to do now is follow it.

Read more at The Register Guard here

As there should be, a hefty amount of debate surrounds this issue - why not let the Chum Nation chime in.  Let's sound off on our forum