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APPROPRIATE ROLE OF HATCHERIES 



Two guiding principles should be applied to all uses of hatcheries for 

 restoration of naturally-spawning populations. 



Use hatcheries only as part of a com prehensive restoration strategy. 



A hatchery program should be only one component of a comprehensiye 

 rebuilding strategy designed to remove or significantly reduce the human-induced 

 causes of the population's decline (Kapuscinski et al. 1991). Different salmon 

 populations in the Pacific Northwest have experienced different causes of decline, 

 with several causes often acting in concert (Nehlsen et al. 1991). A major 

 problem has been habitat deterioration or loss due to barriers to passage (dams), 

 reduced or altered stream flows, poor water quality, water diversions, 

 destruction of spawning or nursery habitat, increased exposure to competition 

 and predation fi-om native species, or effects of introduced species (Li et al. 

 1987). Some natural populations which produce relatively low amounts of 

 harvestable surplus have been further depleted by overharvest. Sole focus on a 

 hatchery, no matter how well designed and managed, cannot compensate for all 

 root causes of decline and will not result in sustainable restoration of naturally- 

 spawning populations. This principle echoes the approach recently recommended 

 by the Northwest Power Planning Council (1992) in its Strategy for Salmon. 



A medical analogy illustrates the value of this principle. The patient is a 

 salmon population, the symptom is decline, and lack of treatment could lead to 

 death, or extinction. Before even prescribing a treatment to rebuild the 

 population, a good doctor makes a diagnosis consisting of the best possible 

 assessment of causes of decline. Although the diagnosis may not answer all 

 questions about what went wrong, it guides the doctor in choosing the most 

 effective treatment from available options. Effective treatment might include a 

 hatchery program in some cases and not in other cases. 



Prescription of a hatchery program as part of a comprehensive restoration 

 effort is reasonable under three scenarios: 



1 . a temporary hatchery program to increase a depleted population or 

 reestablish an extinct population to self-sustaining status while root causes 

 are being reversed (e.g.. while habitat is being restored); 



2. a long-term hatchery program where habitat is irreversibly damaged or lost, 

 provided that negative impacts of hatchery fish on other natiually-spawning 

 populations are negligible; and 



