29 



This concept can develop commercial fisheries and recreational 

 fisheries and have very little impact on remaining wild fish. These 

 are three quick ideas on how hatcheries can play a positive role. 



The last two things I would like to leave you with is to remember 

 that with all of the stories about how desperate the plight is with 

 fisheries, this is a remarkable resilient natural renewable resource. 

 You can grow them faster than trees. They are still a recoverable 

 resource, and we can still build a tremendous economy on salmon 

 in the Northwest. 



The last point is to do it, we have got to involve local communi- 

 ties. We have got to develop grassroots salmon enhancement efforts 

 where the local people have an interest and an ownership in the 

 fish and their restoration. That, combined with what could come 

 from the Federal Government level, would work. Without the local 

 involvement, I don't think it would work. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Sayre can be found at the end of 

 the hearing.] 



Mrs. Unsoeld. Dr. Kapuscinski. 



STATEMENT OF ANNE KAPUSCINSKI, DEPARTMENT OF FISHER- 

 IES AND WILDLIFE, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, ST. PAUL, 

 MINNESOTA 



Ms. Kapuscinski. Thank you. Madam Chair, and members of the 

 committee. Thank you for inviting me to address you today. I am 

 currently an Associate Professor of Fisheries and Conservation Bi- 

 ology at the University of Minnesota. I have extensive experience 

 in salmon hatchery operations, in fish genetics and aquaculture re- 

 search, and I have been involved in several Columbia River Basin 

 efforts to improve genetic conservation in salmon hatchery pro- 

 grams. Also, I am very interested in this very important discussion 

 today because I lived seven years in Oregon, and I am still a land- 

 holder there. 



Hatcheries should be only one component of a comprehensive 

 restoration strategy whose focus is to remove or greatly reduce the 

 root causes of population declines such as the previous panel dis- 

 cussed with you regarding major problems with habitat loss and 

 damage. The best possible role for hatcheries, in my opinion, is 

 having a temporary hatchery whose objective is to rebuild a popu- 

 lation while the causes of its decline are being reversed; for exam- 

 ple, while efforts are underway to repair habitat. 



There is much discussion in at least the Columbia River Basin 

 region of another hatchery role called supplementation. This hatch- 

 ery role is quite different from the one I just described because it 

 involves long-term use of a hatchery, and the intent is that the 

 hatchery-released fish will return as adults and interbreed with the 

 naturally reproduced fish and that this will happen generation 

 after generation. 



The merit of supplementation is still an open question, and I be- 

 lieve it must be evaluated in a few test cases before we consider it 

 for widespread use. In fact, there are plans underway to test sup- 

 plementation in the Yakima/ Klickitat Subbasin which is in Wash- 

 ington State, and I think that that kind of test should proceed. 



