With permission from: Senator Dan Swecker, Washington State Aquaculture Coordinator
(Part one of a two part series on Atlantic salmon)
These fish were discovered in Scatter Creek near the Cypress Island Inc. hatchery. Domsea Farms built the Scatter Creek Hatchery in the late 1970's. Its original purpose was to raise Coho smolts for Domsea's pan size program. In the mid 1980's this hatchery was converted to the exclusive production of Atlantic salmon. They came from North American brood stocks that have now been raised in captivity for over twenty generations.
This breeding program has created a highly domesticated strain of Atlantic salmon that thrives in the intensive culturing environment of a commercial hatchery and a marine net pen. The "wild" survival instincts of these fish have largely been bred out of them in much the same way as domesticated livestock used in agriculture. Recent scientific research has found that a reduction in natural survival instincts occurs in fish that have spent just one generation in a hatchery.
Scatter Creek is a seasonal creek. Prior to opening the hatchery, it went dry in the summer time. The creek bed is now dry 5 meters upstream of the hatchery outfall. If the hatchery stopped pumping water from its wells, the creek would run completely dry. No native populations of salmon existed in that stream at the time of the construction of the hatchery.
Old-timers have told me that Scatter Creek ran year round up until the early 1900's. This changed when the surrounding hills were clear-cut. Forest practices eliminated the buildup of natural decaying matter on the ground that held moisture into the warmer summer months. Historically, the prairie itself was burned over by the Indians on a tri-annual basis, 1/3 each year to promote the growth of grass and forage for game animals and horses.
Early settlers reported no trees as far as you could see in most places on the Prairie. Other than grass, there was little shade for fish along most of the creek. People who came to the Rochester/ Grand Mound in the second half of the 1900's do not remember runs of salmon in Scatter Creek like they do in the Chehalis River and Black River.
Recently, someone has discovered about 250 Atlantic salmon in Scatter Creek below the hatchery discharge. The high number of fish is probably the result of vandalism that occurred a few weeks ago on one of the screens at the outfall of the settling pond. This has already been repaired by the company, which also is investing in a more secure tamper proof screening system. But are these fish really a problem?
Atlantic salmon have been raised in the Rochester-Grand Mound area for at least 20 years. More than likely some of these fish have accidentally escaped. No reoccurring run of Atlantics has developed in our area during that time. In fact, there are no reports of any returning Atlantic salmon to the Chehalis River system. And there are no endangered species in the Chehalis system.
Atlantic salmon are a "non-colonizing" species. They have been planted on 6 different continents in repeated attempts to establish runs over most of the past century. This included attempts right up into the 1990's here in Washington when the Department of Fish and Wildlife released tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon smolts into Minter Creek in unsuccessful attempts to establish a new sport fishery. Atlantic salmon runs have never been successfully established anywhere outside their natural ranges which certainly includes Washington State.
Are there non-native fish in Scatter Creek or the surrounding rivers that survive to spawn year after year? Yes, but they are not Atlantic salmon. They are species such as crappie, perch, shiners, blue gill and other warm water fishes that were intentionally brought to this state to provide much of today's fresh water sport fishery. If you want to get alarmed about rapidly proliferating non-native species that thrive in Washington waters, here is the place to start. The salmon farming industry in our area has repeatedly shown itself to be environmentally responsible and economically desirable. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.
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