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<p class=headline><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>STUDY CASTS DOUBTS ON HATCHERY FISH
EFFORTS<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=summary><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Published: October 10, 2007</span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>By Leah
Weissman <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Pilot
staff writer <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>A 15-year
study conducted by Oregon State University(OSU) reveals hatchery-raised
steelhead trout released in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hood</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> lose their ability
to reproduce in the wild at a drop-rate of about 40 percent per generation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Andrew
Van Scoyk, hatchery manager of Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery in <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Smith</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType>,
said this study doesn't necessarily apply to every hatchery in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"This
is just one study on one river," Van Scoyk said. "There's a lot said
that doesn't relate to us. For instance, we only rear one generation at a
time." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>According
to the research, offspring obtained strictly from farmed fish have around half
the reproductive fitness as fish reared in a hatchery for only a single
generation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Michael
Blouin, an OSU associate professor of zoology said, "There is now no
question that using fish of hatchery ancestry to produce more hatchery fish
quickly results in stocks that perform poorly in nature." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
decrease in reproductiveness is due to a combination of genetics and natural
selection, scientists administering the study said. The evolutionary process
selects certain characteristics suitable for fish living in a protected
environment such as a hatchery, but unsuitable for the fish-eat-fish world of
the wild. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>According
to Van Scoyk, the major differences between steelhead at Rowdy Creek Fish
Hatchery and the hatchery steelhead released into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Hood</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
are the hereditary contrasts between the fish and the hatchery's mating
practices. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
never mate two hatchery fish," he said. "Whenever possible, we always
prefer to mate two wild fish. We also mate different sizes and ages of fish to
keep the gene pool mixed up. Finally, we clip the adipose fin (small fleshy fin
on the fish's back behind the dorsal fin) so we know, and fisherman know, what fish
are wild and what fish are farmed." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
obvious physical difference makes it easy for the hatchery to distinguish
between wild and farmed fish when selecting different steelhead to mate. The clipped
fin is also a red flag to fishermen that this is a farmed fish and should be
caught. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Earlier
studies by OSU and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) mention
that hatchery fish reared from wild stock have the potential to help wild populations
in the short run. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Our
hatchery fish only make up about 30 percent of steelhead in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Smith</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
so there's a higher chance of wild fish spawning with hatchery fish, rather
than two hatchery fish spawning and perpetuating the negative traits," Van
Scoyk said. "I think some of the data from this study are more of a
concern for hatcheries that take up a bigger proportion of the river." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In the
study, Blouin states that hatcheries have a place in fisheries management. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
key issue is how to minimize their (hatcheries) impacts on wild
populations," he said. "Among other things, this study proves with no
doubt that wild fish and hatchery fish are not the same, despite their
appearances." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Van Scoyk
said he hopes people don't take this study too seriously and use it to indict
all hatcheries. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
want to improve the fish population, not harm it with bad genetics. The
Departments of Fish and Game has given us strict guidelines; we do our best to
stay within them."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place>, Chair</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>California Trout, Inc., Advisor</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 cell</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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