Hatchery fish: To bonk or not to bonk!

Wild North Fork Hen

That is the question. This discussion can get pretty heated for some people. If you catch a hatchery fish are you going to kill it? I have to say that for me it usually feels better to release a fish. I have kept hatchery fish and I suppose I will do it at some point again on the right healthy river. The Nooksack is obviously having some hatchery issues, thus the closure on the North Fork. New regulations have put the fate of hatcheries in their own fish. For example, the Kendall Creek hatchery can no longer supplement its egg take with eggs from other river basins as it has done for so many years. If people bonk all the hatchery fish the next few years there may not be any more hatchery fish to kill.

What they are hoping to see happen is to have some good genetic traits start to build in the hatchery population. Such genetic traits would increase survival rates of hatchery fish in the Nooksack as they develop and evolve to the environment of the Nooksack Basin. The most successful hatcheries in Washington have been doing this for some time. Don't you want more fish in the Nooksack? I do.

But what about the wild fish? Do we know the negative effect that hatchery fish have on wild fish? Is the wild strain still pure? Would the river be better off without a hatchery? Would the river be closed to steelhead fishing if there weren't a hatchery? These are all questions to think about and discuss. How many wild fish are finding there way into nets and coolers?

The North Fork closure may continue for the next four years if it is successful this season. This is probably a good thing. But I ask everyone, if sport fishing loses a section of river because there aren't enough hatchery returns, why is subsistence gill netting open 6 days a week? I have spoken with the netters and they are definitely getting steelhead.

Has anyone heard of egg boxes that are used in Alaska? Apparently they are extremely successful. I do not know much about them but I plan on doing some research. Recently, my friend signed me up for CCA, Coastal Conservation Association. I have been out on the Nooksack a lot this year and I think our river needs help. It's going to boil down to a major change for everyone or nothing is going to change for our fishery. CCA has joined the fight for Pacific Northwest Salmon and Steelhead. This a powerful, strong and active organization that is coming here to get things done. So if you want to see change, join CCA. I am not saying that our local organizations aren't doing anything, I am just saying that the problem we have here is bigger than any of them can handle on their own. There are so many issues with our fisheries that need to be re-assessed, re-evaluated and simply re-done. CCA can get us there. Please check it out!