Are fish hatcheries as good as we thought?

The state of Washington has the most fish hatcheries in the United States yet somehow, our steelhead populations are only 3 percent of what they were in the mid-1900s. How could this be?

It seems as if the hatcheries are not as helpful as they are made out to be. According to the nonprofit organization Wild Fish Conservancy, “Current wild steelhead abundance is likely only 1 percent–4 percent of what it was prior to the turn of the 20th century, and the loss cannot be explained by loss of habitat alone. In addition, NOAA Fisheries Service recently assessed twenty Puget Sound wild steelhead populations and found that twelve have a ‘high’ risk of extinction. “

Wild Fish Conservancy is a very science driven and generally correct nonprofit organization, but don’t just take it from them. There are over a hundred studies that conclude that hatcheries are detrimental to not just steelhead, but to whatever fish it “produces”. The science states that this is the impact because the hatchery fish is like a domesticated dog, if you put it out in the wild, it will pretty much immediately die. But if the dog manages to survive long enough to mate with a wolf, then the result is a half dog-half wolf that still will die pretty quickly. All in all, it makes me wonder why the policy makers (NOAA) have not done anything more about this.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Are fish hatcheries as good as we thought?."