In what I’ll suggest is not good news for California’s beleaguered salmon populations, a genetic study showed that only 10% of the fall-run chinook salmon in the Mokelume River are wild fish (from the SF Chronicle: Mokelumne hatchery salmon outnumber wild fish):

Wild chinook salmon are so outnumbered by hatchery-raised fish in the Mokelumne River that scientists fear they would die out if left to their own devices. Only about 10 percent of the fall-run chinook that spawn in the river are naturally born fish, according to a genetic study released this past week. The dismal count of wild fish, which experts believe would be just as bad in other California rivers, means there are not enough native chinook to sustain a natural population in the river.

We’ve so decimated our wild salmon runs with hatchery fish — which offer the double-whammy of overpowering wild fish numbers while weakening their genetics — that in many cases, they wouldn’t survive without a hatchery.

Which only makes things worse.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.