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If You're In The Area, Try To Snag One For BMC


Calamity Kris

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From the comments to the story:

 

“Unplanned release? Isn't this detrimental to the environment? We will soon be hearing from the environment police.”

 

Ya know, I wouldn’t doubt some enviro-morons would think fish would harm their natural environment…because they are not in control. They are good little Enviro-Commies. 

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1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I think unplanned means when they are so small they make easy snacks for the bigger fish.

Not only by predation--  seasonal water temperatures or flows may also not be survivable.  That actually may be a mixed blessing.  The USFWS may actually hope that the artificially raised fish do not survive, for the following reasons.  

 

It is a serious concern whether or not the fish were already marked by binary coded wire or microchip nose tagging and visible clipping of the adipose fin, prior to escaping.   If not marked, then their  accidental release into the wild is a very big conservation and legal problem, affecting long-term efforts to conserve and perpetuate our native stocks of wild steelhead.  

 

Unmarked, untagged  steelhead are legally assumed to be native produced, and they are protected from harvest by anglers (required to be immediately released unharmed).  Officers routinely check angler catch to look for healed-over  clipped fins denoting hatchery fish, and thus can enforce the wild/native fish protective regulations.   The officers also recover the binary nose tags from the hatchery fish heads, which enable researchers to know the exact fish origins, dates of release, survival rates, etc..   

 

Conversely, wild/unmarked fish are captured at trapping stations, and those known-to-be-wild fish also reveal to researchers important information pertaining to their individual survival and population persistence. 

 

The introduction of huge numbers of unmarked hatchery fish into the wild population is thus  catastrophic to both: 1) the above efforts to control harvest of rare remaining wild-produced steelhead and 2) ongoing wild population survival research.    

 

Keep in mind there are substantial issues with hatchery produced fish.  They rapidly become genetically adapted for hatchery production and survival, which is not necessarily the same as adaptation for wild biological survival needs.  Many anglers and professionals believe hatchery fish  introduction into native populations enables interbreeding which is detrimental to long term steelhead genetics and conservation.  The issue is very hotly contended by angling and professional fisheries  organizations.   

 

Hatchery fish are produced to augment the scant wild production, in order to supply recreational angling opportunity.  Wild fish production is so reduced today, due to dams, diversions and altered water flows and temperatures, that their wild-produced population could never sustain angling pressure.  The marking programs are critical to keeping the populations and differential conservation needs separated and viable. 

 

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Here in Indiana all the brood stock is caught in the rivers. They harvest the milt and roe and mix it at the hatchery. Those eggs are distributed to various hatchery locations for raising to a catchable size, usually 14 to 15". They are then released in various locations for put and take fishing. In some deep lakes around here the fish survive to a ripe old age.

The fish in question probably won't do well, not because of their genetics but because man has so destroyed their river habitat that survival in the best of times is tough. Hence the condition of the wild fish stocks. Also, winter is not a time of plenty in a river. Well, it is now but not for those trout!

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4 hours ago, Michigan Slim said:

Here in Indiana all the brood stock is caught in the rivers. They harvest the milt and roe and mix it at the hatchery. Those eggs are distributed to various hatchery locations for raising to a catchable size, usually 14 to 15". They are then released in various locations for put and take fishing. In some deep lakes around here the fish survive to a ripe old age.

The fish in question probably won't do well, not because of their genetics but because man has so destroyed their river habitat that survival in the best of times is tough. Hence the condition of the wild fish stocks. Also, winter is not a time of plenty in a river. Well, it is now but not for those trout!

Genetics also plays a big role in hatchery stock survival.   The gene pool becomes quite narrow in a short time under assisted conditions of hatchery culture.   Capabilities like natural hiding or feeding behaviors disappear rapidly when generation after generation are artificially fed.   Anglers definitely realize there is both a quality and viability difference between hatchery and wild fish.  

 

I grew up living on CA state trout hatcheries and managed  fisheries and watershed conservation for 40 years thereafter, working with the CA DFG.   A great deal of effort and cost is expended in management programs to keep natural and hatchery stocks separated and distinctively marked/identified. Genetics is the principal reason.  Interbreeding between the two is widely recognized to cause weakening of wild fish populations.  

 

The Midwest has no wild populations of anadromous (ocean run) trout or salmon.  Consequently states like Indiana can stock hatchery fish broadly to provide fishing opportunity, and do so  with little genetic impact or concern.   But Washington is quite a different situation.  release of about 1/2 million hatchery fish, unmarked into the wild fish population is very consequential to maintenance of the wild steelhead stocks.

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1 hour ago, Dusty Devil Dale said:

Genetics also plays a big role in hatchery stock survival.   The gene pool becomes quite narrow in a short time under assisted conditions of hatchery culture.   Capabilities like natural hiding or feeding behaviors disappear rapidly when generation after generation are artificially fed.   Anglers definitely realize there is both a quality and viability difference between hatchery and wild fish.  

 

I grew up living on CA state trout hatcheries and managed  fisheries and watershed conservation for 40 years thereafter, working with the CA DFG.   A great deal of effort and cost is expended in management programs to keep natural and hatchery stocks separated and distinctively marked/identified. Genetics is the principal reason.  Interbreeding between the two is widely recognized to cause weakening of wild fish populations.  

 

The Midwest has no wild populations of anadromous (ocean run) trout or salmon.  Consequently states like Indiana can stock hatchery fish broadly to provide fishing opportunity, and do so  with little genetic impact or concern.   But Washington is quite a different situation.  release of about 1/2 million hatchery fish, unmarked into the wild fish population is very consequential to maintenance of the wild steelhead stocks.

Yep, two different animals. Hope we can meet someday. Sounds like we have some things in common.

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5 hours ago, Michigan Slim said:

Yep, two different animals. Hope we can meet someday. Sounds like we have some things in common.

Sounds like it.  Good chance we might find ourselves on a posse someday.  

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