Wild Salmon Population Affected By Hatchery Fish, Say 23 Recently Published Studies

A recently published collection of 23 peer-reviewed and independent studies found evidence that some salmon from hatcheries are harming wild salmon populations as they compete for food and habitat. According to a release, five billion juvenile salmon are released from hatcheries worldwide. In some instances, these salmon are putting pressure on wild salmon and contributing to population decline (not to mention contributing to cases of sea lice).

In one case, chum salmon, a type of Pacific salmon, were released from Asian hatcheries and contributed to the decline of the wild chum salmon population in remote western Alaska, about 2500 miles away from where the hatchery-raised chum salmon was released.

"Genetic data show that these fish share the same feeding grounds in the open waters of the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean," says Greg Ruggerone of Natural Resources Consultants. "With billions of hatchery chum released each year, the abundance of adult chum salmon from hatcheries is now much greater than wild chum salmon, so it is not all that surprising that we are seeing evidence of competition in the North Pacific."

Another study in the Prince William Sound in Alaska touched on hatchery-wild salmon hybrids that formed as a result of salmon that strayed from the hatcheries. Implications of these hybrids include harming the "productivity, genetic diversity and fitness of wild salmon in this region." This is not the first study to discover that many salmon in the wild are not actually wild salmon. Similar results were found in the rivers around Kamchatka.

The release of hatchery salmon can also affect breeding opportunities for wild salmon, one study found.

While several of these studies suggest further investigations to figure out exactly how much wild salmon populations are harmed, the studies provide mounting evidence that the area is ripe for research. Check out all the studies here.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post referred to hatchery salmon as farmed salmon. We regret the error.

Also on HuffPost:

Check out how supermarkets are doing at selling sustainable seafood:

Loading Slideshow

• #1. Safeway: GOOD- 7.1

• #2. Whole Foods: GOOD- 7

• #3. Wegmans: PASS- 6.6

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/_bubby_/5867322569/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of _BuBBy_</a></em>

• #4. Harris Teeter: PASS- 6.5

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10542402@N06/6968781942/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of daysofthundr46</a></em>

• #5. Target: PASS- 6.4

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/5313218644/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of kevin dooley</a></em>

• #6. Aldi: PASS- 6

  <em><strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/5605410845/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of ell brown</a></strong></em>

• #7. Ahold: PASS- 5.9

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13274211@N00/2454265942/sizes/z/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of aloxe</a></em>

• #8. Delhaize: PASS- 5.5

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chagiajose/6011314766/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of Cha già José</a></em>

• #9. A&P: PASS- 5.4

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/redjar/112999129/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of redjar</a></em>

• #10. H. E. Butt: PASS- 5.1

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nworbleahcim/4743479052/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of nworbleahcim</a></em>

• #11. Price Chopper: PASS- 5.1

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/superba_/4838539396/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of superba_</a></em>

• #12. Wal-Mart: PASS- 5

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10542402@N06/6774241091/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of daysofthundr46</a></em>

• #13. Costco: PASS- 5

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenwenvy/2286679033/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of greenwenvy08</a></em>

• #14. Giant Eagle: PASS- 4.9

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terwilliger911/5460101606/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of Terwilliger911</a></em>

• #15. Trader Joe's: PASS- 4.5

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46097950@N02/6783952166/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of BarbaraLN</a></em>

• #16. Kroger: PASS- 4.3

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/belboo/6666319947/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of belboo</a></em>

• #17. Meijer: FAIL- 4

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianteutsch/861218346/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of brianteutsch</a></em>

• #18. Supervalu: FAIL- 3.1

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/afiler/6179857278/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of afiler</a></em>

• #19. Publix: FAIL- 2.7

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/2828063678/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of hyku</a></em>

• #20. BI-LO/Winn-Dixie: FAIL- 1.2

  <em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10542402@N06/7082782529/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr image courtesy of daysofthundr46</a></em>

• Also On The Huffington Post...

Comments

[rastasandliza]

02:36 PM on 05/16/2012

As I've always said all my life "Don't mess with mother nature, she is bigger and stronger than whatever man thinks he can do"

[jefechip]

05:32 PM on 05/15/2012

Nature always does it the best without mans intervention. I am surprised that no one mentioned the "triploid" gene common in farmed salmon.I am not a fishieries biologist and would provide an in-adequate explanation.

[Mississippi Red]

04:39 PM on 05/15/2012

Evidence mounts...

As a population geneticist I am willing to state categorically that hatchery-raised fish are really, really bad for wild populations.

Salmonid populations are locally adapted to their environment. Even if you were to cross a wild salmon from Oregon, with a wild salmon of the same species from Russia, I would be willing to bet that there would be measurable, and perhaps statistically significant, harm.

When you cross hatchery fish with wild stocks, millions of years of evolution are wiped away in a SINGLE generation. The evolutionary trajectory of the speicies has been irrevocably altered and the ultimate consequences may not play out in less than a century or so.

Theory developed >60 years ago supporting this has been demonstrated through computer simulations, experiments with model organisms (think lab rats, beetles...), and with wild species, over and over again.

The evidence was overwhelming by 1980 and yet we have an article in 2012 stating that the "evidence mounts" as if there was some scientifically-based debate about the harmful effects of hatchery salmonids on wild populations. This is the consequence of a well-funded special interest seeking to confuse the people. If this unethical and deceitful approach seems familiar... what a bad, bad, joke this world has become.

[Just4theHalibut]

08:21 PM on 05/15/2012

It is unethical to state there is not a scientifically-based debate ongoing. There is. You have obviously chosen a side and declared it to be the only correct one. BTW, can you explain the apparent contradiction that the alleged genetically inferior, hatchery fish are apparently outcompeting some of the wild, supposedly superior wild stocks?

[GuyRC]

08:48 PM on 05/15/2012

It is the huge number of hatchery fish that is the problem. They don't have to be superior in a one on one competition. If a hundred people moved into your house and started in on your families food how well would you do?

[Mississippi Red]

02:54 PM on 05/18/2012

BS. There is nothing unethical in stating that the weight of scientific evidence, in a field that I work in, supports the notion that hatchery-raised salmonids harm wild stocks. I have "decided" nothing. I have evaluated the evidence.

Hatchery fish are NOT outcompeting wild fish. Their genes are swamping wild stocks, which reduces their fitness. This has been demonstrated. And it has been demonstrated across a wide range of taxa.

Again, I am not against hatchery programs. There is a place for them. They can be great conservation tools. But in this case, hatchery fish are promoted by the agencies as equivalent to wild fish and that is not the case. The goal of the hatchery programs is numbers. This is the wrong goal.

[kvanness]

03:46 PM on 05/15/2012

Research question #1:

Are the farm salmon "harming" wild salmon, or are they "replacing" them?

Survival of the fittest, you know...

Yes, I understand that this is a case of man replacing nature, and that we should be looking at unintended consequences.

However, there is also a decline in the population of fish world wide. What if the "unintended consequence" is that we can fix that?

[Martha Stuart]

03:05 AM on 05/16/2012

I don't think "decline" is the right word. The oceans are being over-fished due to over-population.

[angusmciver]

01:26 AM on 05/17/2012

Huge declines in fish populations are also related to loss of habitat all over the world s well. No intended at all to take away from the over harvest issue. We humans are hard on them in many ways.

[angusmciver]

01:15 AM on 05/17/2012

Farmed salmon are doing harm to wild stocks. The question is, are hatchery salmon, released into the wild doing harm to wild stocks. There is a huge difference between farmed and hatchery fish. And Biologists should be looking at the issue very hard.

There is a serious decline in populations of fish worldwide. That can and should be addressed and hopefully fixed. There are healthy and well managed stocks of fish that can and perhaps should be harvested if done so in a sustainable manner, for all of the reasons.

Research question #2;

GMO Salmon

[Just4theHalibut]

02:39 PM on 05/15/2012

The poster, who did not bother to indicate his/her name, is apparently ignorant of the difference between farmed salmon and "ocean ranching" which is what is discussed in the study. Fish hatcheries have existed in states with salmon runs for over a hundred years. They were built to compensate for loss of spawning habitat (from dams and development), loss of juveniles due to polluted streams, and to help buffer radical fluctuations in salmon runs caused by climate events. The original parentage of hatchery fish ARE wild fish from the local streams. In recent decades, every effort is made to maintain appropriate genetic diversity of the offspring. They are released into the wild at an early stage and spend the rest of their life as a truly wild salmon would. There is no use of genetic manipulation ie "Frankenfish" and they aren't fed antibiotics.

[Mississippi Red]

04:50 PM on 05/15/2012

You still do not account for local selection and adaptation. Even using 'local' fish, you cannot replicate evolutionary processes. This has been demonstrated across a variety of taxa.

Sure, hatchery stocking programs are likely much less damaging than 'frankenfish', but I think it is wrong to promote hatchery fish as the equivalent of wild fish (and this is exactly what many state agencies do). Whether it is redfish in the Gulf or cutthroat in Wyoming, the differences are there, they are significant and they do need to be accounted for.

I am not at all against hatchery programs- from a conservation point of view, they can be invaluable. But there is such a thing as too much, and salmonid hatchery programs often go way too far. Hatchery programs have improved, methods are so much better now than they used to be. But there is tremendous variation in hatchery methods and protocols and adherence to best-methods.

[Thula]

02:33 PM on 05/15/2012

This study has nothing to do with farmed salmon, it is a study about salmon reared in hatcheries and then released as juveniles to "enhance" wild salmon populations and for ocean ranching. Alaska rears and releases billiions of them every year, so when you think you are eating "wild" salmon from Alaska, think again.

[angusmciver]

06:33 PM on 05/15/2012

The volume of wild salmon vs the salmon that are raised from eggs in hatcheries then released into the wild is about 65% true wild and 35% 'enhanced hatchery raised and released into the wild' These hatchery fish once released live out their lives as 'wild' all natural fish. To throw out that chances are you are not eating wild from Alaska is a bit disingenuous. Hatchery programs have restored runs of salmon in Alaska and the Pacific N.W. back to self sustaining runs, and hatchery programs are releasing large numbers of fish, chum for instance that may be causing some major problems with stocks in the wild. As a commercial fisherman, I'm glad they are considering what hatcheries might do to the overall health of all wild runs. That said, I do understand your concerns of being duped. Wild is not the same as farmed, and hatchery fish is a better program than both farmed and endangered salmon.

[deweaver]

01:47 PM on 05/15/2012

For those who actually read this article, the use of the word "FARMED" fish to describe hatchery produced smolts will drive the "wild" salmon industry crazy, especially in Alaska where they market all their fish as "Wild", when the majority are hatchery fish. This completely contradicts the image being promoted by the commercial fishermen and environmental activists that salmon aquaculture is evil and commercial fishermen are the salt of the earth good guys who protect the environment.

The truth is very destructive to PR campaign, supported by tax dollars, pushing "wild" salmon over "farmed" salmon from Canada or Chile.

[ltyr2002]

01:41 PM on 05/15/2012

Frankensalmon? Sounds so appetizing!

[a2948]

01:37 PM on 05/15/2012

Anyone who eats farmed salmon is not being smart about their health.

[jaelstruth]

01:23 PM on 05/15/2012

While this should prevent the approval of genetically modified salmon, it won't. Expect "wild" to mean something altogether different shortly.

[Artemesian]

01:14 PM on 05/15/2012

I'm always amazed at how continually do things without considering the consequences fully. Or in spite of the consequences. Do first, clean up the mess later (if possible), I guess. :(

[Just4theHalibut]

02:46 PM on 05/15/2012

The consequences of not having any salmon hatcheries is that salmon runs in many states would have been wiped out altogether, decades ago.

[Artemesian]

02:51 PM on 05/15/2012

No I mean the genetically modified fish. I understand the need for the salmon hatcheries. :)

[Artemesian]

02:59 PM on 05/15/2012

Oops, make that genetically modified fish and commercially farmed fish, not hatcheries for conservation.