Willi wrote:


rw wrote:

I don't think the problem is that hatchery steelhead (bred from wild
stock) have inferior genetics at conception. They have the same
genetics
as wild fish.


They do have different genetics from wild fish because we're choosing
which fish will reproduce instead of nature. It's as close as we can
get
to reproducing what would have ocurred naturally, but the genetics
aren't the same.

This is certainly a grey area Willi, but I know of one recent study
that supports what you're talking about. It seems that in the wild a
large majority (90% I think) of the fertilized chinook eggs were
fertilized by jacks. I've seen video of the jacks sneaking in and
going the deed right under the big bucks. In a hatchery they take a
big buck and use his milt to fertilize the eggs from several hens in a
bucket.

Monday I watched the guys at the Cascade River steelhead hatchery
stripping the eggs from a dozen 3 to 5 pound steelhead into a bucket,
and then collecting the milt from a few bucks in a zip lock bag. The
hatchery fish on this river are all small and return early. I don't
know, but I think they're Skamania river fish. The Skamania is about
300 miles away and dumps into the Columbia. Eggs from that hatchery
represent most of the steelhead in the midwest, and also most of the
hatchery fish in the northwest.

Chas
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