July 9, 2019 — Outdoor clothing and gear manufacturer Patagonia recently released “Artifishal,” a misguided documentary full of misinformation about the role hatcheries play in salmon recovery.
The movie claims that salmon hatcheries are the main cause for the decline of salmon and should be eliminated. But it doesn’t present accurate science to back this up.
What we know for certain is that eliminating hatcheries would be the end of salmon fishing for generations. More than half of all the salmon harvested in Western Washington come from hatcheries.
Fisheries management is about balancing the H’s: Harvest, Hatchery and Habitat. We already are using the best available science to manage harvest and hatcheries carefully to protect threatened runs of salmon. Meanwhile, habitat continues to be lost faster than it can be restored.
Hatcheries are not the cause of declining salmon runs. We wouldn’t need them if habitat could support sustainable salmon populations.
Another false claim made by the film is that hatcheries are the same as open water Atlantic salmon farms. They’re not.