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[RalphH]

One paper by Dr Brannon does not a scientific consensus make. Overall it's solidly con on hatcheries. It's true the hatchery system was far different in the states; hatchery and wild fish were viewed as cut from the cloth & interchangeable. Hatchery augmentation was done in huge numbers with no protection for wild fish. Wild fish were killed off as angling pressure increased. Abundance of hatchery fish caused complacency when it came to protecting habitat. The result was native fish all but disappeared from many systems from pressure alone. When ocean conditions became unfavourable so did the hatchery fish no matter how many smolts they dumped out the hatchery pipeline. In many cases it was much the same with wild salmon.

While not the last word the Native Fish Society has lots of information and links on issues around hatcheries and anadromous salmonids:

http://nativefishsociety.org/index.php/science-research/

[Dave]

imo the outcome of no hatchery supplementation especially on system like Chilliwack is rather predictable, especially in today's day and age.  There are too many negative factors for these fish to deal with from global warming to habitat destruction to poaching so on and so on...negative factors are continually getting worse, numbers will continue to dwindle.  Long term stock survival and viability may very well depend on responsible hatchery augmentation even whether we fish for them or not. 

There are responsible ways and irresponsible ways to go about it.  I can't help but look at many prime hatchery specimens that return to the river and think to myself this thing has lived it's life from fry or smolt in river to ocean and back avoiding everything thrown in it's way has overcome all odds, to me, it's proven it's worth as a worthy fish to pass on it's genes.  I will not automatically subscribe to the idea that because it was given a slight head start being hatched in hatchery that it is automatically going to harm or detriment the gene pool.  Imo these fish need and will more so need the head start as time and conditions from river to ocean make it harder for the species to thrive.

Folks will point to other jurisdictions and say, look, this is why hatcheries don't work but I think most will agree not every hatchery programs were done thoughtfully or responsibly and those irresponsible hatchery programs shouldn't decide the fate of successful or potential successful programs everywhere else. Everything said I am not a professional or a scientist just an avid, concerned outdoorsman who's thoughts and perspectives based on my own observations. 

I think it would be a shame if we would just shut a hatchery program down due to concern it would have on detrimental impact on wild stock while other more potential serious factors continue and worsen as time goes on ultimately sealing the species fate, hatcheries or not...

Good points wizard.  One positive thing about curtailing the hatchery program on the C-V would mean up to 80 wild (or at least those with an adipose fin) would have the opportunity to spawn, and quite probably, fewer anglers would participate in the fishery resulting in perhaps a better angling experience for some, and less stress on wild fish caught and released.
I personally would prefer no hatchery augmentation on this system, but I’m not naïve, and realize hatchery fish are here to stay on the C-V.  I do however care about the wellbeing of these fish so I suggest perhaps the hatchery program be modified to cut brood stock numbers in half, that is 20 pairs annually.  These 40 fish should be matrix spawned to maximize genetic diversity http://www.sehab.org/pdf/GenManGuide.pdf,
reared on optimum water temperatures and fed appropriately to achieve whatever is considered nowadays the optimum size for optimum survival.  And, perhaps most importantly, these “best science available” fish be released sea worthy tolerant, meaning pre smolt and just past parr.  In other words when released they bugger off and do not residualize.  It currently costs DFO app 120K annually to rear the progeny of about 80 fish (interesting, as steelhead are managed by the Province but they pay nothing towards rearing these fish)  so whatever savings are realized from caring for less I suggest be put into maintenance of off channel habitat areas, or the science to achieve proper juvenile release times.

[RalphH]

If a system can't support a population of wild fish in the long term, hatchery augmentation is unaffordable and pointless. It's just a symptom of how out of whack our societies values are.

[Wiseguy]

Good points wizard.  One positive thing about curtailing the hatchery program on the C-V would mean up to 80 wild (or at least those with an adipose fin) would have the opportunity to spawn, and quite probably, fewer anglers would participate in the fishery resulting in perhaps a better angling experience for some, and less stress on wild fish caught and released.

Fewer anglers? Not a chance. Take a look at the Cowichan River. It's as crowded as it ever was since the hatchery steelhead program was discontinued. Anglers love to fish for Steelhead. The Thompson also comes to mind. Look how crowded that river is when open. The only decrease in anglers over there r the ones who stopped angling for this endangered run out of compassion for these legendary iconic species.

[clarkii]

Fewer anglers? Not a chance. Take a look at the Cowichan River. It's as crowded as it ever was since the hatchery steelhead program was discontinued. Anglers love to fish for Steelhead. The Thompson also comes to mind. Look how crowded that river is when open. The only decrease in anglers over there r the ones who stopped angling for this endangered run out of compassion for these legendary iconic species.

Ah of course the mighty Thompson.  In no way comparable to the cheddar considering there is no hatchery, it is bigger water, and the T is also a legendary river.  It has a name to it that draws people from around the globe.

As for the Cowie your happening to talk about a system with big brown trout in it, one of the few in BC.  That in itself is a major draw.  It also has a fly fishing only section on it.  Are you assuming everyone fishing it was after steelhead? All the guys I know who fish it target the Browns.

[RalphH]

There's a big 'hole' in this discussion which seems to focus exclusively on the freshwater environment steelhead use and even on specific rivers.

The big hole that's left out is the ocean and much of what has happened with steelhead and salmon numbers on the south coast over the last few decades has as much to do with the ocean as it does with anything else.

For whatever reason, long term, the Pacific can't support the same numbers of salmonids in the same areas it used to. There are more fish farther north and even into the Bering sea and the Arctic and fewer farther south.

Some rivers have fared better than others since this started happening. One is the V/C. The hatchery may have something to do with this but habitat improvements also may. Likewise fish in some rivers may migrate to different areas of the open Pacific and perhaps V/C fish genetically are programmed to go farther north where conditions are better.

However consider this; where conditions in the ocean open are not as favourable to salmonids as we'd like, every hatchery fish released is a fish that competes for food and space with wild fish.

If the ocean can no longer support steelhead and other salmonids in number to support a fishery, it won't matter how many hatchery smolts are released from a hatchery. If they can't live in the ocean then they won't return as adults. At some point the economics of poor returns will overwhelm the hatchery system. It won't be worth running and stocking will stop.

[islanddude]

Don't you have a kill fishery on the smolts released from the hatchery?

[Dave]

Don't you have a kill fishery on the smolts released from the hatchery?

That's part of the problem ... not all of the juveniles released from the hatchery are ready for smolting and residualize in the river until they are ready to migrate.  Unfortunately the river opens July 1 so these fish are caught before they leave the system.

[RalphH]

I always heard most of those fish won't migrate to the ocean. Steelhead and resident rainbows are the same sort of fish except some % migrate out to sea. As steelhead numbers in rivers like the Thompson have gone down resident trout number have gone up. Nature currently favours the stay at homes.

[Dave]

Well Ralph, there's no denying every steelhead juvenile killed won't have the opportunity to migrate and return as an adult.
Comparing the productivity of the T and the C-V doesn't work for me.

[RalphH]

I wasn't comparing but simply using the T as an example of how the fish respond to environmental changes man imposes.

Best I recall the Province promoted the marked trout fishery in the V/C to clear residual smolts out of the system as they compete with wild fish for space and food, which is not a good thing. The hatchery model is that released smolts quickly move downstream to tide water and thus don't use in stream resources better utilized by wild steelhead smolts - which the hatchery programs depends on.

 I think up to the present we've been fortunate the V/C has maintained a healthy population of wild fish while the hatchery has been successful in producing respectable numbers of hatchery fish and a good % of those are harvested helping to mitigate possible genetic contamination of wild steelhead stocks. Let's hope that continues well into the future.

[Robert_G]

The Thompson has been seeing less and less fish for various reasons, but with numbers as low as they currently are, there is no way they are going to rebound while the commercials are still gillnetting chum in the lower Fraser (Area E)...period.

[Wiseguy]

The Thompson has been seeing less and less fish for various reasons, but with numbers as low as they currently are, there is no way they are going to rebound while the commercials are still gillnetting chum in the lower Fraser (Area E)...period.

And allowing anglers to continue to fish for an endangered run does not help either.