Hatcheries are important tools for providing fishing opportunities and producing salmon for reintroduction into extinct areas, but salmon must be managed at a minimum risk to wild populations. Since the opening of the first hatchery in Washington in 1883, managers have hoped that hatchery production will compensate for habitat damage, closure, and overharvesting. I was there. Hatcheries are important tools for providing fishing opportunities and producing salmon for reintroduction into extinct areas, but salmon must be managed at a minimum risk to wild populations. Breeding fish can compete with wild salmon for food and other resources, and interbreeding can reduce the fitness of wild salmon. Breeding programs can impede salmon recovery if not properly monitored, evaluated, and managed to limit risks to wild populations. Widespread awareness of these effects has led to improved hatchery management state wide. Most Washington hatcheries operating in areas where salmon and steelhead are listed under the Endangered Species Act are subject to a rigorous management protocol known as the Hatchery Genetic Management Plan. It is designed to allow hatcheries to produce young salmon with minimal impact on wild salmon. Only hatching programs that affect fish listed in the Endangered Species Act require planning. 40 coastal programs require no planning. The Washington Hatchery Network raises over 200 million juvenile salmon each year in more than 100 states, and federal and tribal facilities. The number of wild fish is small, but breeding fish can continue to be harvested. Most steelheads, cohos, and chinooks produced in hatcheries are individually identified as hatchlings by removing a small fatty fin (on the back just in front of the tail). This allows sport, commercial, and tribal fishermen to capture juvenile fish while protecting wild spawners from harvest. Hatcheries are essential to fulfilling the tribe's fishing duties and providing salmon, killer whales, and other wildlife for commercial and recreational use. Going forward, state, tribal, and federal partners will continue to monitor, evaluate and adaptively manage hatcheries to limit their impact on wild salmon populations. Hatchery managers continue to strive to reduce genetic impacts on wild populations, while managers work to effectively target hatcheries and healthy wild populations. There is a constant need for maintenance, capital improvements, and oversight throughout the hatchery system. The aquaculture industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in food production, with approximately 40% of the fish that end up in human food produced in hatcheries. A hatchery is almost like a farm, but also a laboratory. Aquatic species are spawned, hatched, and monitored by hatchery workers. Once large enough, the fish are taken to farms or sometimes released into the wild. Hatcheries have become popular because they provide a reliable source of replenishment in severely overfished waters around the world. In the last decade, hatchery use has accelerated due to several factors, including the increasing food demand associated with population growth, the impact of overfishing keeping wild fish populations low, and the impact of climate change on aquatic ecosystems. Increased to Hatcheries can help improve your food source, but they are not without their drawbacks. Fish hatcheries have many advantages and are popular. First of all, seas and oceans have been heavily exploited due to the increased demand for food.