Interactions between Hatchery and Wild Salmonids – International Understanding of the Risks, Benefits, and Options for Management Part 1

Management of the interactions between hatchery and wild salmonids is an important and controversial topic in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. Widespread reduction in the abundance of natural populations occurred through the 20^thcentury in western North America and earlier in Europe. Natural population declines have been associated with anthropogenic activities that affected the quantity and quality of habitat for spawning and juvenile rearing, increased migration mortality due to waterway impoundment, and overharvest.  In response, fisheries management agencies instituted hatchery programs to mitigate for  lost production, and more recently,  in an effort to maintain or rebuild some natural populations. Resource managers and researchers from North America, Europe, and South America are reevaluating how these harvest mitigation and supplementation hatchery programs are managed, and are considering the degree to which these programs may be affecting efforts to conserve or restore wild salmonid populations. As relationships between hatchery-produced fish and wild populations become better understood, there is a growing need to inform policymakers, resource managers, recreational, tribal, and commercial fishing communities, and the public on the importance of wild populations, and to define the role that hatcheries play in supporting fisheries. This session will convene fishery managers and researchers from multiple continents to discuss the role of salmonid hatcheries and how these facilities can best be used to meet dual objectives that are sometimes in conflict:  the conservation of wild salmonids and harvest support.