May 23rd - Hatchery Salmon

There are distinguishable differences between wild and hatchery salmon such as size, condition of health and behavior. This prompted me ask what is the impact from hatchery fish on the wild populations and just how many hatchery fish are we (people around the world) releasing every year?

As it turns out the hatchery fish may actually be hindering wild salmon recovery according to an article by the State of the Salmon.  A study by Zhivotovsky et al. 2012 shows how hatchery chum in Russia are beginning to replace wild chum within native streams.  Another study by Brenner et al. 2012, Grant 2012 reports that hatchery pink salmon are beginning to show up much higher within streams then ever before and that this has caused high hatchery spawning populations.  However, these studies do not conclusively prove that hatcheries have a negative impact but that there is potential.

Below is a diagram depicting where within the Northern Pacific hatchery salmon are being released, in what numbers and what species per region.

Click here for the actual link and size of the map

The website I referenced and where this graph is located is: http://www.stateofthesalmon.org/hatcheries/#study