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Scoping Survey for "Hatcheries and Management of Aquatic Resources”

For decades, the American Fisheries Society (AFS) has worked with leading aquatic resource scientists and natural resource managers to describe effective roles of cultured fishes in aquatic resource management. Approximately every 10 years, a cross-section of North American resource managers and representatives from AFS Sections and Divisions come together to address and reconcile contentious management issues regarding the uses of hatchery-origin fish. Most recently, this group met under the banner of “Propagated Fishes in Resource Management” (PFIRM), and produced a guidance document, Considerations for the Use of Propagated Fishes in Resource Management. These guidelines were the first comprehensive publication that tied science-based information with political realities of management, and provided the aquatic resources community and decision makers with a set of consensus-guiding principles for the use of hatchery-origin fish.

Science-based fisheries management findings continue to provide new information to strengthen the decision making of natural resource agencies, and new challenges continue to emerge. The timing is right to assess the impacts of hatchery reform, the increasing importance of imperiled species restoration, as well as a number of other emerging issues in hatchery operation and the uses of hatchery-origin aquatic animals. It is time to set the clock in motion for the next cycle of this process, tentatively titled “Hatcheries and Management of Aquatic Resources” (HaMAR), and refine our guiding principles in the light of contemporary knowledge.

Symposia are being developed to serve as fact-finding sessions, targeting all current issues of concern related to the use of hatchery-origin fish and other aquatic animals. Our goal is to bring a full set of challenging aquatic resource management issues before a body of scientists and resource managers for discussion and assessment. To accomplish this, we need your help. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey below and tell the HaMAR steering committee about the most critical issues and constraints influencing hatchery operation and use of hatchery-origin animals. We will use your responses in developing the symposium, ensuring all high priority topics are addressed.

Following the symposium, the HaMAR steering committee will distill the content of the symposium into a series of point/counter-point summaries, collect additional information or perspectives as needed, and, via a facilitated workshop or similar process, oversee the development of the next set of guiding principles for the use of hatchery-origin fish and other aquatic animals in resource management.

Please note that your participation in this survey is anonymous and voluntary. This survey is considered exempt from human subjects in research regulation under the categorical exemptions described in the Code of Federal Regulations [45 CFR 46.101(b) Categories of Exempt Human Subjects Research].

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* 1. In what state/province do you reside?

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* 2. Please select the option that best describes your employer or affiliation.

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* 3. Please select the option(s) that best describe your background.

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* 4. Please indicate which AFS unit(s) you belong to, if applicable.

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* 5. On a scale of 0 (not important) to 5 (extremely important), please indicate how important you think the following issues or attributes are AT THIS TIME related to the production and use of hatchery-origin aquatic animals in resource management.

  0 (not important) 1 2 3 (moderately important) 4 5 (extremely important) I'm not sure
Habitat restoration and management efforts as companions to stocking
Understanding the limitations of hatchery-origin fish and stocking programs
Expectations for returns on stocked fish (i.e., sufficient returns to creel to justify stocking program)"
Monitoring program to provide feedback on the stocking program
Production hatcheries (rearing large volumes of individuals not intended to recruit to wild populations)
Economic constraints on hatchery operation, funding sources
Willingness/ability of programs to retool to meet critical resource needs
Resource (e.g., food, habitat) competition between wild and hatchery-origin animals
Mismatch between the number or type of fish requested and the ability of hatcheries to provide these products
Development of propagation techniques that result in genetically appropriate, healthy hatchery-origin fish
External pressure on management decisions (e.g., from the public, partners, other stakeholder groups)
Culture of recreationally important species (i.e., sportfish)
Biological (e.g., interbreeding) interactions between wild and hatchery-origin animals
Biological, physiological, or behavioral integrity of hatchery-origin animals (e.g., disease resistance, habituation)
Monitoring and adaptive management of stocking programs
Conservation hatcheries (rearing small volumes of individuals for restoration of threatened or endangered populations)
Shellfish production and stocking
Genetic integrity of hatchery-origin animals – related to hybridization and introgression with wild populations
Stocking fish as part of mitigation efforts
Supplementation hatcheries (rearing moderate volumes of individuals intended to recruit and become integrated with wild populations)
Rearing species OTHER than finfish (e.g., aquatic plants, shellfish, amphibians)
Risk assessment and decision-making
Finfish production and stocking
Defining the appropriate use(s) of hatchery-origin fish
Hatchery program evaluation and reform
Genetic integrity of hatchery-origin animals – related to maintaining population size to prevent inbreeding
Culture of commercially important species
Genetic integrity of hatchery-origin animals – related to outbreeding (non-salmonids)
Impacts of egg collection from wild fish on source (wild) population viability
Hatchery effluent management
Hatcheries serving as temporary or long-term refugia for imperiled species or stocks
Genetic integrity of hatchery-origin animals – related to outbreeding (salmonids)
Culture of imperiled species
Fish health and access to disease management tools
Genetic integrity of hatchery-origin animals – related to maintaining integrity of local sub-populations
Using hatchery-origin fish to help control or break pathogen cycles in wild populations
Biosecurity and hatchery design
Support from partners

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* 6. The previous "Considerations for the Use of Propagated Fishes in Resource Management" addressed a broad range of elements associated with the decision to use hatchery-origin animals, and implementation of these plans. The document addressed seven major elements, including 1) comprehensive fishery management plans, 2) biological and environmental feasibility, 3) risk and benefit analysis, 4) economic evaluation, 5) public involvement, 6) interagency cooperation, and 7) other administrative considerations.

In addressing these elements, the guidelines covered a lot of ground, but is this list complete and relevant today? Which of these elements do you feel is the most important in modern aquatic resource management? Please select your top three below.

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* 7. As a follow-up to question #6, what other elements do you think need to be added to the list for the HaMAR cycle?

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