WA State Slashes Hatcheries

[DavidJP]

We could certainly stop hatchery salmon production in some rivers but I doubt the wild fish are going to magically rebound to historic or large fishable numbers.
We could enjoy watching what is left of them.

Obviously has to be a balance but I hope there are at least some river catchments that are being left or where this could be tried. If hatchery fish are degrading the genetic fitness of wild fish then it really would be pretty sorry state of affairs if we were to lose a wild population just for the present generation to fish. I'd hope they would be around in 100 years or more into the future

 

[Salmo_g]

You aren’t required to actively seek work right now for an undetermined amount of time. It’s free vacation for many right now. Max unemployment is $700 I believe and feds put $600 on top of it.... per week.

I'm not keen on going off topic, but a system that pays more for not working than a person earns while working is seriously flawed. There was a time when unemployment compensation was intended to tide a person over a period of unemployment while they looked for another job. Plenty of culpability, agencies that facilitate this screw up and unemployed workers who exploit it.

 

[Salmo_g]

I wonder if salmon hatcheries are really all that good for the salmon populations of particular rivers in any case. We're probably raising fish that are adapted to hatchery conditions, changing their genetics over time and contaminating the genetics of the wild population making them less able to succeed in the natural non hatchery environment. So might not be so bad in the long run.

Are Hatcheries Helping, or Hurting, Wild Fish Populations?

Are Hatcheries Helping, or Hurting, Wild Fish Populations?

www.discovermagazine.com

Salmon hatcheries, except for a very few small conservation hatcheries, are and never were intended to contribute to the well being of wild salmon populations. Hatchery salmon are cultured for the purpose of contributing to salmon fishing harvest by commercial and recreational fishers, and also to some degree for ceremonial and subsistence treaty fishing. That said, the damage has been done. The preponderant stock of Chinook salmon in PS, both hatchery and wild, is Green River hatchery origin. The only remaining endemic wild Chinook salmon remaining in PS that I can think of are: Nooksack spring, Skagit spring and summer, Skykomish summer (& maybe fall), Snoqualmie fall, White River spring, Dungeness-Greywolf spring. Because of spatial and temporal separation, PS hatchery fall Chinook can't do much damage to the remaining wild Chinook - or they would have already done it.

There remains some wild endemic coho salmon populations in north PS, but the preponderance of PS coho are now either of hatchery origin or wild coho well mixed with a hatchery background. Most outplanting of hatchery coho fry has stopped, so the resulting wild coho have been tending back toward the characteristics that are best suited to the ecosystems they now inhabit.

Slashing salmon hatchery spending and production will harm salmon harvest in WA state because there are almost no harvestable wild Chinook or coho. I only begrudge that WA taxpayers and license buyers aren't getting what they pay for, and they are about to get even less.

 

[Jakob B]

Money that is adding to our debt and must be repaid somehow by someone.

Exactly, something everyone seems to be forgetting or leaving out if the big picture right now is whether you're a republican or a democrat or whatever we will be paying out our ass for the fiscal consequences of this pandemic for years to come.

Something that doesn't exactly excite me as I look into the job fields as I near closer to graduation and the looming expectation of higher taxes to pay for peoples retirement and some peoples poor fiscal legislation rather than causes I think would better the country.

I will say however, taxes are necessary. It takes money to run a large country. Some people just aren't spending it very wisely right now... and so we argue.

Jakob

 

[Creatch'r]

I'm not keen on going off topic, but a system that pays more for not working than a person earns while working is seriously flawed. There was a time when unemployment compensation was intended to tide a person over a period of unemployment while they looked for another job. Plenty of culpability, agencies that facilitate this screw up and unemployed workers who exploit it.

The idea was to help compensate servers put out of work for COVID who may make minimum wage but rely on tips, a solid point to be sure I can sympathize I know many, but the additional 600 provided by the feds casts a wide umbrella and many are benefitting by way of a pay raise sponsored by the govt.

 

[Phish Guy]

Where’s all the damn cannabis tax going? Last I saw WA leads all states in tax revenue on cannabis. Throw some of that towards the fisheries eh

 

[Jakob B]

Where’s all the damn cannabis tax going? Last I saw WA leads all states in tax revenue on cannabis. Throw some of that towards the fisheries eh

I'm pretty sure last time I researched it the majority of it goes to drug education/outreach and to enforcement (on other drugs).

Jakob

 

[MGTom]

Where’s all the damn cannabis tax going?

The Green New Deal?

 

[Dr. Magill]

People taking advantage of help provided by the government pisses off people who’s own standards wouldn’t allow it. It’s the same thing with unemployment compensation, SNAP benefits, long term or permanent disability, aid to foreign countries, illegal immigration. These are wrought with fraud and corruption. Some people just can’t help themselves.

 

[Matt Paluch]

This went about the way I expected.

 

[KerryS]

I'm not keen on going off topic, but a system that pays more for not working than a person earns while working is seriously flawed. There was a time when unemployment compensation was intended to tide a person over a period of unemployment while they looked for another job. Plenty of culpability, agencies that facilitate this screw up and unemployed workers who exploit it.

Another way to look at this is why are wages so low that an emergency UI package meant to get people through a pandemic where work has been temporarily suspended pays them more? Some of the problem might be companies don’t pay their workers a livable wage.

 

[smc]

Another way to look at this is why are wages so low that an emergency UI package meant to get people through a pandemic where work has been temporarily suspended pays them more? Some of the problem might be companies don’t pay their workers a livable wage.

Things that make you go hmmmm.....

 

[Rob Allen]

Another way to look at this is why are wages so low that an emergency UI package meant to get people through a pandemic where work has been temporarily suspended pays them more? Some of the problem might be companies don’t pay their workers a livable wage.

Or people live beyond their means and blame their situation on low wages..

 

[bpatton]

Or people live beyond their means and blame their situation on low wages..

If we ever meet I want to post a picture of me pinching your cheeks.

 

[Rob Allen]

If we ever meet I want to post a picture of me pinching your cheeks.

No