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would make it possible to selectively harvest hatchery fish from mixed stock 

 fisheries, identify stray hatchery fish, and evaluate homing of hatchery fish to 

 desired natural spawning grounds. Under the Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project, 

 genetic monitoring guidelines are being developed that will be generally 

 appUcable to salmon hatchery programs. 



Hie most commonly used monitoring tool is a method of identifying 

 genetically distinct populations, called protein electrophoresis, lliis method is 

 increasingly used by state and federal fisheries management agencies to assess 

 catches of different Pacific salmon stocks in mixed stock fisheries. 

 Unfortunately, it cannot distinguish hatchery fish from depressed naturally- 

 reproduced populations in a mixed stock fishery (Craig Busack, Washington 

 Department of Fisheries, Genetics Program, Olympia, WA, personal 

 commimication). It is also used to inventory the distribution of distinct 

 populations in fi^shwater habitats. An example is the 1992 Washington Salmon 

 and Steelhead Stock Inventory, jointly produced by Washington Department of 

 Fisheries, Washington Department of Wildlife, Northwest Indian Fisheries 

 Conunission, and Washington Treaty Indian Tribes. Such inventories are 

 required to identify depleted populations and to properly design restoration 

 programs. 



Overhaul of the present hatchery system is need ed to assist restoration. 



A recent genetic analysis of hatchery policies and guidelines in the Colimibia 

 Basin (Kapuscinski 1991) revealed tremendous variabiUty among fisheries 

 management agencies in thoroughness and biological quaUty of their approaches. 

 This finding, which is probably also true for hatchery programs outside of the 

 Columbia Basin, makes it highly unlikely that the present system can successfully 

 restore many naturally spawning populations. In addition to structural and 

 operational changes mentioned in my comments above, two major system-wide 

 changes are needed. First, all fisheries management agencies must improve the 

 biological quality and consistency of their hatchery policies and practices because 

 these have major impacts on sustainability of naturally-reproducing populations. 

 Second, improved coordination is desperately needed among agencies with 

 overlapping responsibilities for the same or interacting natural populations. 

 Coordination should focus on planning, risk assessment, monitoring, evaluation, 

 and mid-course corrections of all hatchery programs. 



