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Fish Anatomy Reproduction Hatcheries
Fish Anatomy Reproduction Hatcheries
Reproduction in hatcheries
Friday, 03 July 2009 18:26 | Author: Administrator | 
To mitigate the decimation of wild salmon runs caused by construction of dams and over fishing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yearly deposits billions of salmon eggs and young, propagated in nurseries, into natural breeding grounds and constructs fish ladders for the upstream journey of mature salmon. However, hatchery-raised salmon have aggressive feeding habits. This means, unlike wild salmon that spend most of their time in deep water or under cover, hatchery raised salmon spend most of their time at the water's surface looking for food . As a result, hatchery-raised salmon consume most of the food wild salmon need to live. At the same time, this aggressive feeding makes hatchery salmon more vulnerable to predators because they stay near the surface. Hatchery salmon usually have less genetic diversity than wild salmon. This can lead to lowered resistance to disease and other environmental hazards.
