EP2 Making a better hatchery fish, Oregon Hatchery Research Center

On today's podcast we speak to Joseph O'Neil who manages the Oregon Hatchery Research Center.  They are located on Fall Creek which is a tributary of the Alsea River on the central Oregon coast.  Joseph was nice enough to show me their facility and some of the research they are doing for salmon and steelhead hatcheries.  There was so much to take in I had trouble gathering my thoughts afterwards for the podcast.  They are conducting a lot of research to hopefully produce a better hatchery fish for the future.  This is an uphill battle with budgets having less funds and legal requirements put on hatcheries to produce, but something has to be done.  Some studies say hatchery fish are currently 10 times less likely to survive and return to spawn than their wild, or native, counterparts.  A staggering statistic!  We cover topics such as their research on how fish use magnetic fields to navigate in the ocean, or how the health of a hatchery smolt's fins can be effected by the feeding technique used by the hatchery.  There was a lot to take in and I will admit that I nerded out a bit with all the information.  I learned a lot on this one, I hope you do was well.