Fishing Forum

[url "http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1308"]http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1308[/url]
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I can't get the video to play, but...this doesn't sound good to me, am I reading it right?
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I guess it depends on if you want to fish for Steelhead in Idaho. I hate to say it but if it weren't for the hatcheries at Ellis, East Fork of the Salmon and Stanley you wouldn't be able to catch Steelhead on the Salmon River.

Interesting article none the less.
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I don't hear a lot of solid science but we do get a lot of may this and may that. Most biologists now accept that only hatcheries at the mouth of flows should be allowed if you want to preserve all the traits in the wild strains. Weirs would serve to remove all of the returning hatchery fish set somewhere before any spawning grounds were reached. This would mean little or no fishing. We know that hatchery fish have been breeding back to wild fish for as long as there has been hatcheries. Also we understand that a certain percentage of hatchery fish escape marking and are put into the wild fish runs by mistake. For him to add his surprise at this finding really suspends belief in his understanding of fish biology. Many of the Steelhead and Salmon runs are put and take and have been so for years. The one's that are left that are not directly hatchery affected do have fish that return to different streams than those that they were originally spawned in. This is why they can't identify any "pure" strains of wild fish. They all carry the same markers.

As was noted, to do away with hatcheries would almost completely eliminate sports angling on most of our waterways in the west for anadromous fish. I don't consider this an viable alternative???
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I would whole heartedly agree that if it werent for hatchery programs in Idaho we would be wishing we were steelhead fishing. I'm glad we live in a state that gets good enough numbers of anadromous fish to allow us to sport fish with liberal daily and possesion limits. I've got friends that live in both coastal Oregon and Washington that come to Idaho every year due to the sheer numbers they can catch in our rivers compaired to some of theirs that are not so bountiful. However it is a shame that runs that were once solely wild fish have become diluted due to hatchery programs. Makes you wonder if there are even any somewhat pure strains left in our great state........
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