When salmon from a hatchery breed in nature, they produce fewer adult offspring than their wild-born peers. And researchers aren鈥檛 certain why.
However, in a new study of Chinook salmon from a McKenzie River tributary, the wild-born offspring of those hatchery fish appeared not to inherit their parents鈥� poor reproductive fitness.
鈥淥ur findings suggest that fitness may improve in the wild as quickly as it declines in the hatchery,鈥� said OSU associate professor Kathleen O鈥橫alley, the study鈥檚 senior author.
O鈥橫alley said it鈥檚 unclear if the increase is caused by genetics, environmental factors, or a combination of both. And she said hatchery-born salmon may still pose reproductive risks to the wild populations they breed with and their offspring.
Additionally, O鈥橫alley said other salmon populations will need to be studied before researchers can draw wide-reaching conclusions from this data.
However, she said these findings support the idea that hatchery salmon could help sustain or repopulate wild populations in the future.
Under the Endangered Species Act, spring Chinook salmon in the Upper Willamette Valley are a 鈥渢hreatened evolutionarily significant unit.鈥�
Copyright 2024