Don't Count your Salmon Before They're Hatched

Don't Count Your Salmon Before They're Hatched Hatcheries overwhelm rivers and threaten wild salmon

Taking a fre$h look at life - the black in this pea-sized ball is theeye ofa hatchery-fertilized salmon egg.

he salmon were still in the stream, floating motionless against the current. I expected them to dart offas I grew close, but they remained unconcerned with my presence, as though their self-preservation instinct had been snuffed out. The state hatcheries technician. Hank, pointed to the "redds," holes dug in the gravel stream bed, and said the halfdozen still salmon I saw had just laid their eggs and were "spawned out." Their life cycle was complete, and now they were simply waiting to die.

I walked through the cool, mountain air onto the hatchery grounds, where troughs ofconcrete and steel were lined up in rows. I had come to this imitation of natural stream conditions to find out how it works, and to substantiate or refute some ofthe many criticisms ofhatcheries I have heard. I continued into the incubation building, where huge racks ofplastic trays lined the walls. Rows ofplastic buckets filled the remainder ofthe room, all containing eggs waiting to be hatched. I visited three hatcheries: Skagit and Nooksack state, serving the rivers ofthe same names, and Lummi tribal, serving the South Fork ofthe Nooksack at Skookum Creek. Thebiggest difference between tribal and state hatcheries is their funding. Both divisions work with biologists and fisheries to work out the details oftheir operations, and both boast of survival rates between 80 and 90 percent. This is much higher than the under ten percent rate found in nature. When I asked Ross Fuller, Chiefof Assessment and Development for state hatcheries, how many state hatcheries there were in Washington, he told me that "The number we like to give is 76, but there are numerous other small hatcheries and release ponds around the state." There are also 17 major

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tribal hatcheries. Altogether, these hatcheries are responsible for producing about 50 percent of Washington’s total salmon catch.

The major production hatcheries, Hank told me, rely primarily on returning fish released from the hatchery for their egg and sperm supplies. Ifreturning numbers ofsalmon are not high enough, eggs are supplied by other hatcheries, or taken from wild fish Any surplus, along with most ofthe spawned out salmon, is sold as food, bait, and fertilizer by the state hatcheries to Ocean Star through an annually renewable contract. Lummi hatchery returns some leftover salmon to the river to decay, where their death provide nutrients to the river system, an important link in a river’s food chain. It is against state policy to put dead salmon into a river, so all spawned out salmon not sold are buried.

After the salmon return to the hatchery to spawn, they are led into a holding area. Periodically, they are herded into a pair ofshallow pools. Males go in one pool, and females in the other. At this point, they are clubbed on the head, and sperm and eggs are extracted.

The eggs are fertilized in large racks oftrays or deep troughs, constantly flushed with a fresh supply oftemperature controlled water. "They are kept here in incubation until eyes are visible in the eggs, which takes about 30 days," Hank told me. The eggs are then shocked by a significant move, such as pouiing them into another tray. Shocking is a step necessary for the fish to break out oftheir eggs. The eggs are then replaced in their incubators, where they hatch after another 30 days. In 30 more days the fish, now in their fry stage, are placed in ponds. They will remain in these ponds to be reared. Hank said, until they are released into the rivers.

Despite over a century’s worth ofexistence, even the hatchery officials I spoke with acknowledged that hatcheries haven’t managed to iron out all oftheir problems. So many salmon packed so closely together for so long creates a perfect breeding ground for disease. The slightest introduction ofany ofa variety ofcontagious diseases can rapidly infect entire stocks. In the past, I learned, millions offish had to be destroyed, and millions ofinfected fish have been released. Rapid treatment and close monitoring by fish pathologists have curbed the problem, but the only way to solve it is to do away with the close quarters found in hatcheries entirely.

State hatcheries discriminate little in their selection offish for breeding. In nature, however, the stronger, dominant males are given the first chance at fertilizing the eggs. Dominant males only fertilize around 70

The Planet class tours Skagit Hatchery.

percent ofthe eggs when other males are nearby, allowing the weaker fish to put in their two bits worth.

In nature, only the strongest few are able to survive. In hatcheries, even the weak salmon can get mature enough to survive in the wild. Over the years, thi.s has led to a form of"genetic pollution." Adult hatchery salmon are smaller and weaker than wild salmon. Bruce Brown, in Mountain In The Clouds, quotes an old Queets Indian fisherman as saying, "You can tell the difference between wild fish and hatchery fish the minute you cut them open. The wild ones are redder fleshed, and firmer. They fight hardertoo."

The depleted gene pool can find its way into natural fish ifthey mate with hatchery fish. The 1992 report Strategy For Salmon was published by the Northwest Power Planning Council as an assessment ofthe salmon crisis in the Columbia River Basin. It warned that “Hatchery fish could help; yet interbreeding could further imperil the naturally spawning species.”

At the date decided by a fisheries biologist, all salmon ofa particular stock are released. State hatchery releases, at least at theNooksack hatchery, occur over a couple ofdays. The reasoning behind the time lapse, according to what a hatchery official told me is, "Ifwe release them all at once they’ll overwhelm the river. But ifwe take too long to release them, predators will wait and pick them all off."

This does not, however, address the issue of stream carrying capacity. Strategy For Salmon said. "In the rivers, too, hatchery fish are a problem because they can overwhelm [natural] salmon from those rivers. There needs to be a better understanding ofhow manyjuvenile fish the Columbia Basin can support. This ’carrying capacity’ has an impact on the survival ofall salmon on the river." The impact of a mass hatchery release is increased because hatchery fish, as juveniles, are much larger than their natural counterparts due to a pampered upbringing. In my interview with Bill Finkbonner, head 3 ofthe Lummi tribal hatchery, he S compared a mass release to "a big Ivacuum cleaner" moving down the g river. This analogy is easier to '§■ envision considering the Nooksack state hatchery’s 1989 release of 7,577,800 fall chinook. Salmon are guided by a natural impulse to find the ocean. Many ofthe released salmon will wait in estuaries and calm waters until the ocean-going instinct calls them. While waiting, they compete directly with their natural counterparts, and can exceed a river’s carrying capacity.

Many hatcheries, such as Skagit, are decreasing their releases in response to this problem. Their largest single release last year was of500,000 fish. When you compare that to a record release from the hatchery of38,000,000 fish, it is easy to see how our hatcheries have added to the salmon crisis.

Bill Finkbonner impressed me with the most creative solution to the mass release problem. At a date around 18 months into the life ofthe salmon, he simply opens the gates to the stream. When he does this, he finds that the fish leave in small groups. It takes from a month to six weeks for all the fish to

Each bucket is filled with hundreds offertilized eggs.

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leave. The ones that stay do not compete with wild fish until their instinct calls them, and those that leave go straight for the ocean.

One ofthe most significant hatchery policies I found was the attempt to recreate natural runs. At Nooksack state hatchery, groups ofsalmon are acclimated for periods ofsix to eight weeks to water in different parts ofthe river, in ponds set up for holding themjust prior to release. Nooksack hatchery officials informed me that although fish have definitely been coming back, the exact success ofthis program is currently being studied. Most state hatcheries have one or more alternative release sites, and Nooksack has two. Lummi hatchery has four different release sites along the river, and eventually plans to release only 700,000 fish at Skookum Creek and distribute the remainder oftheir 2,000,000 annual Skookum coho release to other parts ofthe river. Ideally, as Finkbonner puts it, the hatchery will serve only as a giant incubator. "We’re trying to get mother nature back into this," he said.

All ofthe evidence shows that mother nature, indeed, needs to be reintroduced into the picture. Hatcheries, on principle alone, interfere with nature. After a trout hatchery was shut down in Montana, biologists reported a 180 percent increase in trout Dopulation in the area. This is not to say that all latcheries should be closed, but certainly we should do our best to encourage natural runs as they were a hundred years ago. Assuming their continued existence, hatcheries should try to enhance natural runs rather than overwhelm them.

There are 93 fish hatcheries in Washington state alone. At maturity, hatchery salmon are smaller and weaker than wild salmon.

Farming Salmon

No tractors are involved with farmed salmon. The concept ofsalmon farming, however, is the same as with large-scale cash crops. Salmon are taken from a hatchery as smolts, and put into the ocean. They are enclosed in large pens. The small fish are carefully watched, fed and guarded by their keepers, until they mature in a highly efficient environment. Fish farms benefit the consumer. Salmon, which might otherwise be out of season, are readily available fresh at the market. The large amounts offish produced also drive the price down by quite a bit. On the other hand, the salmon are not as tasteful as wild or even hatchery fish. The flesh is so pale that substances are added to the fish feed to make the meat redder. Fish farms do not benefit fishermen. They can over saturate the market and drive down prices. One third ofall fish bought in stores were raised on fish farms. Farmed fish compete with wild fish in the market, where the average consumer doesn’t know the difference. This devalues wild salmon, since there is now an alternative which does not require stream habitat improvement.

Erich Raudebaugh