03-25-2010, 11:53 PM
I would say "clueless" is a bit of a stretch. Though I do agree that hatchery fish are genetically inferior and probably less fit due to vastly different selective pressures in the raceways vs in a natal stream and a limited gene pool, I do think it's a little naive to say that no hatchery fish spawn in the wild. Anadromous fishes have an amazing homing ability, but they certainly do stray from time to time.
And don't count out Idaho origin kelts just yet. there are people from various agencies and organizations (myself included) that are studying everything from their physiology to causes of their admittedly high mortality, to investigating reconditioning methods as a means of bolstering wild populations. As it is, iteroparity ranges from 0.5% to 2% on average (which is not too far off from what you said). So maybe I need to get clued in too, but the fact that there are repeat spawners at all means that there is some genetic push to maintain that life history trait, and we shouldn't just discount it.
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And don't count out Idaho origin kelts just yet. there are people from various agencies and organizations (myself included) that are studying everything from their physiology to causes of their admittedly high mortality, to investigating reconditioning methods as a means of bolstering wild populations. As it is, iteroparity ranges from 0.5% to 2% on average (which is not too far off from what you said). So maybe I need to get clued in too, but the fact that there are repeat spawners at all means that there is some genetic push to maintain that life history trait, and we shouldn't just discount it.
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