Researchers Greg Ruggerone, Randall Peterman, Brigitte Dorner, and Katherine Myers studied historical salmon abundance trends to discover that rising hatchery production, combined with periodic shifts in ocean salmon productivity, will increase competition between wild and hatchery salmon in the North Pacific Ocean. Since the 1950s, the release of juvenile hatchery salmon into the North Pacific Ocean – or salmon ranching – has skyrocketed to roughly five billion fish per year.  Adult hatchery salmon now account for at least 20% of total adult salmon production and rising. At the same time, many individual salmon populations are at low abundances due to overharvesting, loss of habitat, and other factors. Their findings, published in Marine andCoastal Fisheries, raises the question of how many more fish the ocean can sustain. 

This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Journal article:

Gregory T. Ruggerone, Randall M. Peterman, Brigitte Dorner, and Katherine W. Myers, “Magnitude and Trends in Abundance of Hatchery and Wild Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, and Sockeye Salmon in the North Pacific Ocean.” Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science 2010; 2: 306-328. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1577/C09-054.1

Related news:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Overcrowded+oceans+threat+wild+salmon+researchers/3622586/story.html

http://www.adn.com/2010/10/04/1485231/hatchery-salmon-an-increasing.html

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Food-Farming/2010/10/04/HighReturnsNotGoodNews/

http://www.physorg.com/news205413168.html

http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=0&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=38442&ndb=1&df=0