Roblin1

Hannah Roblin

Bio 213

Lab Thursday @ 4pm

April 25, 2011

Are Fish Hatcheries Effective in Maintaining Fish

Populations and Biodiversity?

Summary of issue:

The thought by many scientists is that fish hatcheries are effective in maintaining
populations but not in maintain biodiversity. Several studies have shown that hatcheries have
overall negative effects on the population and biodiversity of the fish. All of the studies have
been in agreement with one another as to the many different effects hatcheries have on fish such
as decreasing their fitness level, decreasing their reproduction rate, decreasing their genetic
variation, decreasing their growth rate, and decreasing their survival rate. The debate between if
hatcheries are helpful or harmful is fueled by the need for a stable population in fish and the need
to maintain biodiversity. The issue of this project is to research and explore the many different
effects that have been observed in studies done on fish hatcheries and the return of fish from
hatcheries back into the wild. The most important part of this is that my group and I want to
assess both the positive and negative effect fish hatcheries have had on population and
biodiversity. We want to see if hatcheries are necessary and are the best thing to maintain a
stable population and maintain biodiversity. This is an important issue because fish hatcheries
will still exists unless it is proven that they have a negative effect instead of having a positive
effect like they were meant to.

Connection to Bio213:

Ecological populations and biodiversity are part of the central focus of Bi213 as well as
the topic of hatcheries having negative effects on population and biodiversity. The main focus of
Bi213 is to learn that population and biodiversity is very important for sustaining ecological
community structures. In previous lectures in class we have discussed the different ways fish
mate and the effects of different types of fish. Because hatcheries cause inbreeding between fish
in hatcheries and then cause interbreeding when released the effect the population and the
biodiversity.
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Source #1: Journal Article

M.C. Belk, L.J. Benson, J. Rasmussen, and S.L. Peck. (2008). Hatcher-induced morphological
variation in an endangered fish: a challenge for hatchery-based recovery efforts. NRC Research
Press. pp. 401-408.

Main Assertion:

In this article, the author asserts that there is a difference between fish in the wild and fish
in hatcheries. The shape of the lateral body, the ventral mouth, and the lateral head views
differed between wild fish and hatchery fish; hatchery fish had a greater variance in shape. It is
shown that hatchery fish have a reduced fitness and performance compared to wild fish. The
author suggests that the difference in hatchery environments compared to natural environments a
detrimental to fish because it could produce fish that are poorly adapted to natural environments.
It is shown in the article that fish in hatcheries have a higher percentage chance of being
deformed compared to lake raised fish; hatchery fish have an increased variance. The article also
shows that hatchery fish differ from lake raised fish in the morphology of their head and mouth
and differences in body form. These differences cause the hatchery fish to have a lower
performance than lake raised fish causing them to have poor performance when released and
therefore a decreased chance at life.

Strengths and weakness of source:

This article is a strong source because it discusses several different ways that fish that
live in hatcheries and fish that live in the wild are compared. It does a good job of describing the
different methods so that the results are understandable and so that you can know how they came
up with the results. The authors present several sets of data that provide proof of what they are
saying. They also include pictures and data tables which gives them a higher sense of authority.

The only weakness is that effects of hatcheries on phenotypic development are poorly
documented because of the many variables that go into studying the effects of hatcheries on the
fish population and its biodiversity.

Comparison:

The conclusion drawn from research done by these authors are support assertions made
within my other sources: Hatcheries reduce the overall fitness of the fish causing them to not live
as long and not breed as well which in turn lowers population and biodiversity.

Usefulness for Presentation:

This source will be good for our presentation because it gives a lot of data, images, and
graphs. It also explains many different types of effects hatcheries have on fish not only their
population and diversity but also the aspects that make those things up.
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Source #2: Journal Article

Araki, Hitoshi, Schmid, Corinne. (2010). Is hatchery a help or harm? Evidence, limitations and
future directions in ecological and genetic surveys. Elservier: Aquaculture. pp. 52-61.

Main Assertion:

In this article, the authors assert that hatcheries have a negative effect on genetic
variation. The authors assert that hatcheries major negative effects include lower reproduction
rate, lower genetic diversity, lower growth rate, and lower survival rate. They show that hatchery
fish that breed with hatchery fish have a 7.7% lower survival rate when the fish were in streams
and 11% higher survival rate when in hatchery ponds compared to wild fish that breed with wild
fish. They claimed that in hatcheries it was common to find a lower number of alleles compared
to wild fish no matter what the species. The authors tell us that the reason that conservation
biologist are majorly concerned about genetic diversity is due to the fact that is it a primary
source of the capacity to evolve in the face of environmental changes.

Strengths and weakness of source:

This article is a very strong source because of the fact that it is an article in which the
authors compared seventy different studies in which they found twenty-three that showed
significantly negative effects of hatcheries on the fitness level of the fish and twenty-eight
studies that showed reduce genetic variation in hatchery populations; none of the studies showed
positive effects of hatcheries.

The only weakness that this article has is that it since the article is a comparison of other
peoples studies the authors did not have a methods section in which they describe how the
authors of the studies retrieved the results that they did.

Comparison:

The conclusions drawn from this article supports the assertions of my other sources:
Hatcheries have a negative effect on the population and biodiversity of fish. It also supports the
assertions made about how hatcheries lower fitness level, increase inbreeding, and lower the
survival rate.

Usefulness for Presentation:

This source will be very helpful to our presentation because it compares many different
articles and studies that have been done which measured the effects hatcheries have on the
population and biodiversity of fish. It includes several different types of graphs and many
different tables. Overall it will be a very helpful source for our presentation.
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Source #3: Journal Article

Riira, Katriina, Piironen, Jorma, and Primmer, Craig R. (2006). Evidence for reduced genetic
variation in severely deformed juvenile salmonids. NRC Research Press. pp. 2700-2708.

Main Assertion:

In this article, the authors assert that within hatcheries the internal relatedness is if higher
than that of wild fish. They claim that with hatcheries come genetic deterioration which causes
inbreeding depression, loss of genetic diversity, accumulation of new deleterious mutations, and
adaptations to the captive environment; all of these are deleterious to wild fish. Because
hatcheries have a small population it increases the chance of inbreeding, loss of genetic variation,
and deleterious mutations. Increases in inbreeding lead to an increase infant and larval mortality
rate. Throughout their experiments they concluded that genetic diversity was lower in fish that
were deformed. Overall the main assertion is that hatchery fish have a lower genetic diversity
and therefore have more deformities which leads to a lower fitness level.

Strengths and weakness of source:

This article is a strong source due to the fact that they did several experiments which
included comparing two different types of fish. With each type of fish they compared hatchery
fish to wild fish to see how they differed. Within the article they explain their methods and gave
background information about the fish they were studying in order to increase the reliability of
their results. They provided tables, graph, and images to further show and explain their results
which increased their authority.

They only weakness within this article was the fact that is very difficult to observe mortality at
in early age when looking a wild fish. Therefore, when comparing the mortality rate of hatchery
fish to wild fish some could possibly go unseen.

Comparison:

The conclusion drawn from this article and the assertion made by the author supports my
other sources: Hatchery fish have a higher rate of inbreeding which leads to a higher rate of
deformities causing hatchery fish to have a lower fitness level overall.

Usefulness for Presentation:

This source will be very helpful when giving our presentation because it supports the
hypothesis that hatcheries decrease population and biodiversity. The article gives many different
ways to look at the results of the author’s comparisons such as tables, graphs, and images.
Overall it will be a very useful source when developing and giving our presentation.
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Source #4: Journal Article

Kostow, Kathryn E. (2004). Difference in juvenile phenotypes and survival between hatchery
stocks and a natural population provide evidence for modified selection due to captive breeding.
NRC Research Press. pp. 557-589.

Main Assertion:

In this article, the main assertion the author is making is that the population of fish has
been declining for the last thirty years and one of the reasons is because of the decreased survival
rate. The author puts forth that the reason for the decreased population is not due to the
population-density but in fact due to another reason. Hatchery fish that are released into the wild
have a negative effect on the wild fish. Hatchery fish that are released have a negative effect on
the survival rate of the wild fish. When hatchery fish and wild fish breed it could lead to changes
in their behavior. Interbreeding could not only reduce the genetic variability for the fish itself but
as well as the whole population.

Strengths and weakness of source:

This article is a strong source because of the fact that it assesses the effects that releasing
hatchery fish have on the wild type population. The article presents the information and results
very well. It describes the effects the hatcheries have in terms of lowering the population and the
effects they have on the survival rate of the wild fish. The article also touches on the issue of
interbreeding and the effects it can have.

The only weakness this article has is that it is not solely concentrated on the effects
hatcheries have on the fish population it also touches on different topics such as climate. The
effect that having a broader source like this one is that there is not a lot of information that is
focused on just the effect of hatcheries.

Comparison:

The conclusions drawn from this article supports the assertions of my other sources:
Hatcheries have a negative effect on population and biodiversity. This is due to the fact that the
survival rate of wild fish are affected by the release of hatchery fish and because when
interbreeding occurs if causes the wild type fish to have changes in behavior.

Usefulness for Presentation:

This source will be very beneficial to our presentation because it discusses the effects on
wild fish when hatchery fish are released. It will also be an effective source because it includes
tables and graph as ways to show the results on top of describing them in the text. Overall this
source will be a very good asset when developing our presentation and giving out presentation to
the class in lab.