Problems of Fish Hatcheries

Hatcheries, Once the Answer, Now the Problem Throughout the last 150 years salmon populations have been continuously dropping, originally because of the rampant overfishing of the late 19th century, and currently because of habitat loss due to hydropower dams and poor logging practices. The primary intervention used to increase the salmon population has been hatcheries. It was thought that they would solve the problem of decreased salmon populations, hatcheries actually lead to the destruction and decline …

…success of salmon restoration projects. One problem is that half of the salmon habitat in Oregon is in private ownership. By getting these private owners involved salmon restoration can really begin. Currently some private owners are helping with the restoration process by planting trees along the river banks, building shallow lakes for fry to develop before they head out to the ocean, and by making hatchery boxes for salmon fry at the edge of creeks.