From: jeffp@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM (Jeffrey L Powell)
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing,alt.fishing
Subject: Oregon Trout Newsletter
Keywords: Fishing Conservation
Date: 6 Sep 92 19:57:55 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Distribution: na
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.



The  following selected topics are copied from the July 1992 issue of "Oregon 
Trout News". They may be of interest to those concerned with Native Fish and 
their Ecosystems. They are summaries (with my typos added for flavor). I can 
arrange to have the full text of the Oregon Trout publications "RiverKeeper" 
and "Freshet" posted here if there is enough interest.

HATCHERY FISH PEEPING: A psychology professor is peeping at hatchery and wild 
trout to learn about their social life. Dr. Terry Veietti made these 
observations:
"Watching these fish swim is like watching a ballet dancer and a 300lb 
linebacker. The hatchery fish fight the current, the wild fish are agile and 
conserve energy by resting where the current is weakest. Hatchery fish swim 
close to the surface  making them easy prey, wild fish hang out near the 
bottom. When exposed to the shadow of a hawk, wild fish sought cover and stayed 
there, hatchery fish were only momentarily startled. The wild fish sorted out 
their social order quickly, the dominant fish holding the best feeding 
locations. Hatchery fish fight all the time, no social structure is 
established, they just chase, chase, chase."

Similar studies characterized hatchery fish as being like a motorcycle gang. 
They have poor social skills, do not build or respect territories of wild fish, 
driving them away. They did not conserve energy and perished and also drug the 
wild populations down with them so that the stream held fewer trout than before 
stocking.


ACCORDING TO THE EPA'S annual "Water Quality Inventory", 1/3 of US surface 
waters fail to meet water quality standards, this year 42 states reported 26 
million fish deaths due to toxins.

CHANGING TIMES ? In the 60's the Army Corps of Engineers converted 103 miles of 
Florida's Kissimmee River into a canal. The result was a 90% loss of waterfowl, 
degraded water quality and endangerment of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. 
In the 90's the Corps is putting the bends back in the Kissimmee, spending $423 
million on the largest wetlands restoration project in history.

The FOREST SERVICE has been removing timber faster than it is regrowing it. In 
1952 the Forest Service was cutting 29 cubic ft/acre, regrowing at 26 cu.ft/ac.
1977 cutting had climbed to 50 cu.ft/ac, regrowth at 32 cu.ft/ac.
1987 cutting was at 62 cu.ft/ac, regrowth at 39 cu.ft/ac.
The National Forest Management act requires the Forest Service to manage our 
forest at a sustainable rate.

BEND HYDRO APPEALED: American Rivers, a national river conservation group, is 
filing a petition to intervene in the relicensing of the Bend Hydro Project. 
Operated by PacificCorp on the Deschutes River, built in 1913, there are no 
fish ladders. American Rivers, Oregon Rivers Council and Oregon Trout are 
asking they be included now.

ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) was asked how much was being 
spent on the Natural Production Program and the Artificial Production Program 
(hatcheries). The answer; $400,000 on natural, $35,000,000 on hatchery.  ODFW 
also canned the first and only geneticist it had hired. Somewhat of a mystery 
considering the commission just adopted rules for the implementation of a gene 
conservation policy.

Jeff Powell
jeffp@riverwhy.PEN.TEK.COM