After reading through this thread, I am amazed at some of the posts. First, do Wild Steelhead only spawn with Wild or is there a mixing? Is there really an all natural Wild Steelhead run left on our rivers? Where did the first Steelhead used in the hatchery come from? I don't remember God creating a special Steelhead just to be used in hatcheries! So, are they not the same original genetic DNA?
Second, my understanding of the hatchery approach is to promote survival in the fish in the early stages of development when they are most likely not to survive. Agreed that natural selection does not occur, but good cross breeding does, so wouldn't this help stabilize the whole hatchery group (for some of you that don't know what cross breeding is . . . that's why you don't marry your sister or cousin)? We use several techniques to help couples have children when they can't seem to reproduce on their own. Are these children inferior because we have used frozen embryos or artificial insemination, or god forbid the test tube babies?
Finally, I don't know all the answers, but I do know fishing! And, the rivers in Oregon that have had the hatcheries closed on them are some the poorest Steelhead fishing rivers. These fish seem to need a little help due to all the logging, destruction of spawning beds, modern farming and cattle ranching practices, and encrochment from man. I like catching fish, so I release them, so I or another lucky angler can catch them again. If I want to eat a fish, I buy it at the store . . . it is cheaper and most of the time farm raised. Take a picture, you can still go . . . "Look at me, Look at me!!" And maybe, someone else or even me can catch it further upstream and have the same "Look at me" experience.
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