In calculating endangered fish species, should hatchery populations be counted or just wild fish?

Wild

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by Gary Sacco

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Including hatchery fish in calculating if a fish species is endangered, or not, smells, from here at least, like another notorious counting trick that the Bush administration has used so unscrupulously. Remember their rosy prediction that the deficit would be halved in a few years not counting Iraq expenditures? The idea of counting hatchery fish, while not that distorted, is very misleading and skews the count toward powerful interests rooting against the species being declared endangered.

Hatcherie s are extremely valuable. It's impossible to be anti-hatchery. However, these fish are raised in very safe, man made, climate controlled environments. They are afforded protections wild fish will never have. Hatchery fish are not prone to polluted streams or lakes, predators or being a sporting target. It's comparably easy for scientists to create fingerlings in these conditions. Wild Salmon struggle mightily to fight upstream, wrestling the current and racing against time to spawn.

Including hatchery fish in the count more than insinuates an anti environment, pro business mentality. A mega builder planning on developing a hotel/golf resort near a stream wants to see a high count. He'd hate the fact the his project might be stopped because that stream is a spawning ground for endangered species. The sportsman also has an interest in fish staying off that list. Many feel the Endangered Species Act is a hindrance to development and progress. The rules are too strict they say. This strange formula for calculating endangered fish is just a tricky way around the act without embarking on a certain political struggle to repeal or change the act. Don't fall for it.

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