Originally Posted by
WLREDBAND
Just to be clear here, I am in NO WAY advocating for a suspension in hatchery production on our dam impacted rivers. There is no way for that to happen, even if additional habitat and water management practices improve (which I do support). Hatchery production MUST continue on these rivers. I am also in NO WAY advocating for the return of surplus stock hatchery fish being returned to the river, as James wants. That is a scientifically undefensible position, due to scientifically documented density dependent mortality and limited spawning habitat issues. Simply put, returning ALL surplus hatchery fish to the river is a BAD idea for a large variety of reasons as briefly discussed above. Any given stretch of our altered rivers only has the ability to spawn and rear a certain limited number of fish, and we are likely at that maximum level right now. Dumping more surplus fish back will NOT increase the number of salmon as claimed by James, and that is bad biological science that I DO NOT support.
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