Hatchery
Reform
Hatcheries:
Sustainable fisheries, wild stock conservation
For
more than a century, WDFW hatcheries have produced fish for
harvest. Today, hatcheries provide the foundation for the
state's vastly popular recreational fisheries and the thousands
of jobs that depend on them.
But
in recent years, hatcheries have taken on an additional new
role. They are becoming an essential tool in the conservation
of native salmon stocks. Indeed, as far back as 1977, long
before any fish species was listed under the Endangered Species
Act, a WDFW hatchery was being used to stave off extinction
for a spring chinook stock. Presently, about a third of the
state's hatcheries are used in some capacity for wild stock
conservation work.
To
ensure hatcheries can carry out this dual role of wild stock
conservation and sustainable fisheries in an environmentally
sound manner, WDFW has joined with tribal, federal and private
scientists to examine hatchery operations and determine what
structural and operational changes are necessary. The goal
of this unprecedented collaborative effort, launched in 2000
and facilitated by the non-profit conservation group Long
Live the Kings, is to make sure the best available science
is developed and applied in the years ahead as hatcheries
fulfill their new dual role.
