Hatchery programs at the crossroads: another Tragedy of the Commons? C.W. Huntington Clearwater BioStudies, Inc.

Transcription

1 Hatchery programs at the crossroads: another Tragedy of the Commons? C.W. Huntington Clearwater BioStudies, Inc.

2 Intensities of Hatchery Fish Releases releases: SE Pacific Rim releases: Oregon Coast

3 Goals for hatchery reform Address issues of scale. Hatchery programs should fit within the surrounding landscape and be consistent with the conservation of wild populations. Hatchery programs should operate under genetically and ecologically relevant standards, and be consistent with species recovery under the Endangered Species Act. Decisions on hatchery reprogramming should be based upon the needs of wild fish rather than on maximizing nearterm output. * first formulated during a Trout Unlimited project in the Upper Columbia Basin

4 Conceptual Hatchery Program Types Watersheds or Basins with Programs Segregated Model Segregated Hatchery Programs Integrated Model Integrated Hatchery Programs Reserved Areas Wild Wild phos pnob pnob>phos phos Hatchery Hatchery conventional large to massive invigorated broodstocks new rearing techniques scaled to fit watershed Wild natural model generally defines conservation point of reference (control) for ongoing hatchery experiments ought to maximize resilience unless circumstances are dire

5 Columbia River Basin

6 Somewhere on the way to CRB reforms we got proposals for large to massive integrated hatchery programs.. Are we fooling ourselves?

7 Recommended CRB Hatchery Reforms (HSRG 2009)

8 Oregon Coastal Basins North of the Rogue River

9 Hatchery Program Effects on Salmon Population Productivity in Coastal OR Oregon Coastal Winter Steelhead Regional model for salmon population productivity versus phos (Chilcote et al. 2011) Oregon Coastal Fall Chinook Regression models for OR coastal Chinook productivity versus hatchery release intensity (in prep) The model suggests that effects on the productivity of individual populations range from reductions of about 8% to reductions that approach or exceed 60%. Straying by hatchery fish is a pervasive, difficult to monitor problem. Basin and estuary-based models suggest that effects on the productivity of basin-scale populations range from negligible to reductions of more than 50%.

10 Unfavorable interactions may be coming: hatchery programs and climate change

11 DRAFT Oregon Coastal Multi-Species CMP (ODFW 2013) Avoidance of aggregate reductions in hatchery output is an explicit goal of the Plan.

12 How well do hatchery programs in coastal Oregon align with watershed areas selected for special conservation emphasis? Oregon Coast: Oregon Conservation Strategy (OCS) Oregon Coast: OCS plus Draft Multi-Species CMP* Types of H-fish present Types of H-fish present Reserved Areas Reserved Areas N = 38 Conservation Emphasis Areas N = 38 Conservation Emphasis Areas * Maintenance of aggregate hatchery output is an explicit CMP objective.

13 What to do if the conservation of PNW salmon is truly a priority for our society? Conceptually Hatcheries are unlikely to be a conservation tool unless circumstances are dire. Hatchery programs should be spatially segregated from wild salmon populations of highest conservation priority unless circumstances are dire. Regional conservation priorities should inform the spatial and functional arrangement of future hatchery programs. The greater the number of wellfunctioning reserve areas, the better for the long-term persistence of PNW salmon.. In future hydro-related processes Seek mitigation agreements that emphasize wild salmon and their habitat over hatchery programs when conflicts occur. Link funding for aquatic conservation programs to declines in hatcherybased mitigation as explicit program goals are met. Avoid commitments to inflexible hatchery programs that lack wellfunctioning risk containment and monitoring programs.

14 Questions?

15 The Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin 1968) Garrett Hardin s seminal work, published nearly half a century ago in Science, described the class of problems that lead to depletions of common property resources. Wild salmon are such a resource, and popular fish hatchery programs have contributed to their depletion. But Hardin s work focused on the example of an English commons and livestock owners who could not keep from adding more animals to the mix, not on wild salmon, their habitat, and fish hatcheries. How do you reform livestock (or hatcheries)? As Hardin s work suggested, the real dilemma lies not with the livestock, but rather in how difficult members of human communities find it to reform or change themselves.

16 Effect that interactions between the freshwater and ocean environments has on wild salmon populations (Lawson 1993)

17 Hatchery Salmon Production around the Pacific Rim Alaska Canada Southern US Russia Korea Japan Annual hatchery releases (millions) Alaska Canada Southern US Chinook Coho Steelhead Masu Sockeye Chum Pink Russia Korea Japan Annual hatchery release intensity (#/km 2 )