Carlisle Harrison wrote “Don’t blame hatcheries for the declines in wild fish” (Other views, Jan. 24). While I respect Mr. Harrison’s many years of experience, sometimes it pays to look at new information rather than thinking that what we’ve always done is correct.

Hatcheries are necessary when reintroducing species like Lostine River coho and can provide a fishery in rivers that no longer have the habitat to support wild populations. However, the evidence shows that relying on hatcheries to make up for dams, invasive predators, habitat loss and climate change isn’t working.

Mr. Harrison’s statement that hatcheries are necessary because “leaving sperm to the outside chance it can find an egg is slim in most situations” is the epitome of hubris. He’s right that fertilization rates are better in a controlled hatchery environment. Unfortunately, the problems come afterward.

Hatchery fish are adept at gobbling food pellets thrown into their tanks but fare poorly in the real world. Attempts to correct this by releasing more smolts have come at a cost to the wild fish uniquely adapted to our rivers. Yes, anadromous fish of all kinds have been extirpated from many ancestral spawning waters. The remedy is to restore those natural habitats rather than assuming we can do better than nature.

Selective breeding for 40-pound “meat for the table” fish sounds great, but decades of treating salmon like cattle created populations that are one-dimensional and vulnerable. Nature hedges her bets and produces fish with many different sizes and characteristics. Natural selection allows smaller fish to populate smaller streams at lower waters. This is an even more important adaptation with the decrease in streamflows forecast due to climate change. Diversity is key in an unpredictable world.

A 2022 study found that hatcheries, which supply 80% of the Columbia River salmon returns, spent between $250 and $650 for every hatchery salmon that returned (www.propublica.org/article/salmon-hatcheries-government-climate-change). Yet after 80 years, native steelhead are crashing and salmon are endangered. Hatcheries aren’t solely to blame but are part of the problem. If we want a different result, it is time to try something new.

Kevin March

La Grande