MACCALL: AGAINST MARINE FISH HATCHERIES CalCOFl Rep., Vol. 30,1989

AGAINST MARINE FISH HATCHERIES: IRONIES OF FISHERY POLITICS IN THE TECHNOLOGICAL ERA ALEC D MACCALL Southwest Fisheries Center 3150 Paradise Drive Tiburon, California 94920

ABSTRACT likely to solve the problem of declining fish stocks. Marine fish hatcheries have a long history of ex- Rather, consideration of artificial propagation is pensive operation with no demonstrable positive making fishery resource problems worse. effect on the resource. It is exceedingly difficult to detect hatchery-produced fish. Although very ex- HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE pensive, full hatchery operation may be necessary The “hatchery solution” has a long history of to determine effectiveness. Modern techniques of attempted marine application, and from that his- genetic marking and fingerprinting provide new tory we should be able to learn a few lessons. Cod tools for determining hatchery success. Unfortu- (Gudu~mouhua) larvae were released into the Atlan- nately, legislation to fund research on hatcheries is tic Ocean for nearly a hundred years, beginning in forestalling vitally needed legislation to stop further the late nineteenth century. In the United States, deterioration of fish stocks. Popular interest in ma- some 50 billion cod larvae were released between rine fish hatcheries is having a deleterious rather 1890 and 1950, but it wasn’t until 1952 that the op- than beneficial effect on the resources. eration was terminated due to lack of evidence that any worthwhile benefits had been obtained (Dun- RESUMEN can and Meehan 1954). Las piscifactorias marinas poseen una larga his- The history of the Norwegian cod hatchery ini- toria de costosas operacioiies que no han demon- tiated by Captain Dannevig at Fbdevigen (re- strado UII efecto positivo sobre el recurso pesquero. viewed by Solemdal et al. 1984) provides further Resulta excesivamente dificultoso detectar peces de evidence that wishful thinking can postpone ra- criaderos. A pesar del alto costo, tal vez sea necesa- tional decisions almost indefinitely. The Norwe- rio mantener criaderos totalniente fuiicionales por gian hatchery operation was not closed until 1971, UII tienipo prolongado para deterniinar su eficacia. despite decades of research that failed to demon- Las ticiiicas modernas de niarcacion genktica e iden- strate any effect on the fish population. In 1911, Jo- tificacion individual (equivaleiite a1 us0 de impre- han Hjort and a minority faction of a government siones digitales) proveen nuevas herramientas para comniittee issued an opinion that the question con- deterniinar el &xito de un determiiiado criadero. cerning the benefit from the Flerdevigen hatchery Nos urge la necesidad de una legislacion que legisle was unsolvable, and that the hatchery should be la disponibilidad de foiidos para la investigacion de discontinued. The majority of the committee ad- piscifactorias para evitar o frenar el deterioro de las vised against the hatchery’s termination, but did poblaciones de peces. point out that current methods needed to be re- placed by unspecified “more complete” methods INTRODUCTION (cited in Solemdal et al. 1984). Ironically, the result Several of California’s marine fish stocks have was conversion of the Flerdevigen hatchery from a declined severely over the past 70 years. Recrea- privately funded operation to a government opera- tional and coniniercial fishermen have become in- tion, which was to continue in virtually the same creasingly vocal about rights to the dwindling mode of operation for 60 more years. supply of fish. 111 California, the concept of niariiie It is interesting to read portions of Solemdal et al. fish hatcheries was successfully promoted in the (1984) in view of currently renewed hatchery inter- state legislature as a painless answer to this problem. est in Norway. Whereas the former practice was to A well-meaning California politician explained that release early larvae, the new approach is to raise the instead of fighting over smaller and smaller slices of fish to somewhat larger size and release them as the pie, we now have the opportunity to increase juveniles; this is similar to the California plan. the size of the pie itself. A modern technological The seemingly obtuse custom ofintroducing a practice solution to a politically difficult problem is hard to prior to investigating its effect, as was the convention in argue against. Yet I doubt that niariiie hatcheries are Flcadevigen in the 1880’s may in fact have been a necessity

46 MACCALL: AGAINST MARINE FISH HATCHERIES CalCOFl Rep., Vol. 30,1989 during those pioneer days of small scientific staff and reational species. But without the second kind of little experience. With our knowledge, experience and evidence, there is no way of knowing whether the well established research institutions the scientific inves- resource itself is being enhanced, which is the usual tigations should precede the practice. We are specially stated goal of these operations. There is no reason thinking of the mass production of cod 0-group and the to believe a priori that the hatchery-reared fish is possibilities of restocking depleted populations. capable of natural reproduction in the wild; the fact Though the consistency of fry production still has to is that we just don’t know, and have little chance of be demonstrated it is obvious that mass production will be a reality within some years. The fry produced can be finding out. used either in intense farming or released into the sea as a As a scientific problem, the null hypothesis is not method for population restocking. Many people have a clear. We could choose either H,:hatchery fish are strong belief in the latter concept, while others are more not reproductively viable, or H,:hatchery fish are skeptical. In fact, the situation is about the same as when reproductively viable. The extreme difficulty of Captain Dannevig was applying for support in the early testing either hypothesis suggests that the null hy- 1880’s. pothesis, whichever it is, will not be rejected. The primary difference is that today the development Therefore, I submit that this either is bad science or is mostly an official task and therefore should be both it is not science at all. Moreover, without a substan- under scientific and economic control. But the American tial technological breakthrough, it is fraudulent to hatcheries which were also developed within the official system, show that this is not a guarantee for the proper, claim that a marine hatchery program can be eval- logical and sound development of a project. The most uated “scientifically.” obvious pitfalls today are lack of knowledge by the Fortunately, such a breakthrough may have oc- administration, too optimistic statements by scientists curred. About the only conclusive way to answer quoted by mass media, the general tendency of “fashion these questions is to mark and count the fish that are thinking” among administrators and scientists, and released from the hatchery, and monitor their re- probably also critical funding from outside sources, e.g. capture. Physical tags or markings can pose a hand- the oil industry. icap to survival in the wild, and could bias the These statements apply equally to the marine fish results; they also provide no information on repro- hatchery program in California. To the credit of the ductive success. Only through genetic marking, a California program, there is an explicit research technology that recently has become practically fea- component that is supposed to examine the effec- sible, can effective reproduction be tested. A genetic tiveness of such a program. However, determining strain, as well as its offspring, should be detectable the survival rate of hatchery-produced fish requires by genetic fingerprinting methods. Again, devel- such a large output of those fish that a hatchery opment of a genetic strain requires a long time and program must be fully implemented in order to de- a large investment in hatchery facilities, before the termine its effectiveness! Thus the ideal of investi- program’s potential effectiveness can be determined. gation preceding practice may not be achievable. Although evaluating a marine hatchery program Yet, as history has shown, the momentum gener- may now be feasible, it remains extremely difficult ated is very hard to stop, despite lack of evidence and expensive. And that very expense bodes ill for that the program is effective. In fact, our technol- an objective accounting of cost-effectiveness. ogy for demonstrating positive effect in the open The few cases where marine hatcheries seem to ocean is little better than it was at the turn of the have produced recoverable fish have been associ- century when Hj ort deemed the question unsolvable. ated with estuarine rather than open-ocean fisheries (e.g., Rutledge 1989). Application to a slow- SCIENCE AND HATCHERY EVALUATION growing, late-maturing, long-lived oceanic fish The fundamental requirements for evaluating such as white seabass (Atvactoscion nobilis), as is stock enhancement by means of a hatchery opera- being considered in California, strains biological tion are twofold: first, we must be able to identify and economic credibility. These fish will not be- hatchery-produced fish in subsequent catches, and come vulnerable to the commercial fishery for second, we must be able to identify the genes of nearly ten years, which entails a substantial discount hatchery-produced fish in subsequent wild popula- in economic value as well as attrition by natural tions. The remaining information needed to evalu- mortality. The recreational fishery may encounter ate a hatchery program is relatively trivial. If a these fish somewhat younger, and values are un- sufficient fraction of hatchery fish live long enough doubtedly higher to this segment of the fishery, but to be harvested, it may be possible to justify a put- relative fishing pressures indicate that the bulk of and-take operation, as is often done for inland rec- the catch will be taken by the commercial fishery.

47 MACCALL: AGAINST MARINE FISH HATCHERIES CalCOFl Rep., Vol. 30,1989

Also, the main body of the white seabass resource with the creation of the marine hatchery program lies south of the Mexican border. We must further in California. Even though this program is only discount our hatchery production by the presently intended to be exploratory, the people responsible unknown but potentially large fraction that mi- for enacting fishery management feel that they have grates south to join the main body of the population effectively addressed the issue, and they appear to where it will be unavailable to California fisheries. have little interest in taking action to conserve the Ironically, the more fish that display normal behav- remainder of the natural stock. ior and migrate south, the better is our chance of California’s hatchery veseavch program is now the enhancing the population reproductively, but the main factor preventing rehabilitation of the white poorer is our chance of catching those fish. Only seabass resource. This is not the first time that a the monitoring of genetic tags can address these research program has forestalled effective fishery difficult problems. management in California: CalCOFI itself is a sim- The critical question of whether a marine hatch- ilar case, having contributed to the final collapse of ery will be effective is not answerable before the the California sardine fishery (Radovich 1982). Of attempt, and is exceedingly difficult to answer even course, in the present case of white seabass hatchery after the attempt. Meanwhile, the operation is very research, the fishing industry is not intentionally expensive. Moreover, the program is prone to jus- forestalling management as it was in the sardine case tification by wishful thinking: history has shown cited by Radovich. Yet I believe that the late John that a hatchery program can generate a broad base Radovich, who was a strong proponent of research of public and political support in the total absence on marine fish hatcheries, would be dismayed to of any objective evidence that it actually works. find that a legislated program of fishery research once again has postponed effective management, FINAL IRONIES and is contributing actively to collapse of another Effective management of fisheries on declining fish resource. natural stocks has always been difficult to obtain. In California, effective management often has been LITERATURE CITED legislated only after a resource has declined to a level Duncan, L. M., and 0.L. Meehan. 1954. Propagation and distribution of food fishes for the calendar years 1951-1952. Stat. Dig. U. S. Fish so low that politicians no longer fear criticism for Wildl. Serv. 32, 36 pp. restricting catches (e.g., sardines, Pacific mackerel, Radovich, J. 1982. The collapse of the California sardine fishery: What Pacific bonito). The California fisheries for white have we learned? Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 23:56-78. Rutledge, W. P. 1989. The Texas marine hatchery program-it works! seabass have declined severely (Vojkovich and Reed Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 30:(this volume). 1983), and in the 1980s we seemed to be nearing the Solenidal, P., E. Dahl, D. S. Danielssen, and E. Moksness. 1984. The historically proven conditions for effective fishery cod hatchery in Flerdevigen - background and realities. Flndevigen Rapportser 1:17-45. legislation. Now the “hatchery option” has Vojkovich, M., and R. J. Reed. 1983. White seabass, Atractosciorr nobilir, changed this pattern: discussion of legislation to in California-Mexican waters: status of the fishery. Calif. Coop. manage the white seabass fishery suddenly ceased Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 24:79-83.

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