19 



The Fish and Wildlife Service is going to review its hatchery pro- 

 gram over the next few years. I am not going to sit here and say 

 we are going to dismiss that at all. A roundabout way to getting to 

 your question is we need the hatchery program. I am not in a posi- 

 tion to say it is good, bad or indifferent at the moment. Until I 

 know, I think we should continue the way we are. 



Mr. Hamburg. Other panelists like to comment? 



Mr. Moyer. I would like to address that. I think there is general- 

 ly ample scientific evidence that says that wild fish are more com- 

 petitive, that they are better able to survive environmental condi- 

 tions and return and spawn than are hatchery fish. So the funda- 

 mental problem is that, when hatchery fish are mixed with wild 

 fish, that they interbreed and the whole genetic integrity of the 

 species or the stock is lowered or made less survivable because of 

 that interbreeding. That is the fundamental issue, I think. 



I would agree there is a good deal more research that needs to be 

 done to find out how big that risk really is, but I think from our 

 organization's point of view, we would rather see those studies 

 done and that risk determined before we enter into broader-scale 

 hatchery programs and be much more cautious about how we use 

 hatchery programs. 



One of the strong points of the study that I mentioned earlier, I 

 think before you came, was that there are several points through- 

 out the study where it emphasizes caution on using hatchery fish 

 and we would support that. 



Mr. Hamburg. Anyone else? Yes? 



Ms. Ellison. I would like to mention one thing. John Sayer, who 

 is the Executive Director of Long Live the Kings, was to come 

 today and it wasn't possible. He has been here before and testified. 

 His statements about wild salmon would have been very, very ben- 

 eficial at this point with the boot stocking and the plans of wild 

 salmon. 



Mr. Hamburg. Thanks. 



Mr. Hamburg. Anybody else? 



Mr. Sodhi. As I mentioned earlier on, the Chehalis Indian Tribe, 

 we don't have a hatchery. We are very much keeping the wild fish 

 runs going, and as the gentlemen mentioned, it is a very good thing 

 what we talk about in this report, is to augment the natural runs. 



So what we need to do is initially have the hatcheries fish going 

 in, but basically, over the years, you have to take them off, taper 

 them off and have the wild runs going. They will not be real wild 

 runs because, as Mr. Moyer mentioned, there will be a lot of inter- 

 breeding of those fishes. 



One of the things which we are doing this year on the Chehalis 

 Indian Reservation is we are trying to get a million fish with the 

 money, which we got part of it from this U.S. Fisheries and Wild- 

 life, this restoration, as well as we are trying to get some money 

 assistance from BIA, and we are going to tag 500,000 fishes and let 

 them release to the river system and we will see how much we get 

 back, what kind of conditions they are in. 



But we very much take the approach which U.S. Fisheries and 

 Wildlife has mentioned to augment the runs, to have both going at 

 the same time initially with the hatchery and then going back to 

 the wild runs. 



