1) Pacific Salmon Life Cycle
a) As it stands, man-made dams disrupt the complex and specific life cycle of the Pacific salmon. Dams impact and affect the pivotal reproduction of the salmon species by causing a disturbance in the pattern of migration during the reproductive season. The Pacific salmon goes through two miracles in its lifetime of transformations of changing its entire system to go form fresh water to salt water. The miracles of the fish bodies adapting to the change in environment are caused by migration for dietary and security reasons. Salmon migrate from a young age from freshwater streams into the ocean because of an abundance of food and less predators to increase the probability of growing to mature reproductive age. Salmons …show more content…
While the hatchery does raise thousands of young fish, many of them don’t survive long enough to reproduce and the complex steps that go into their reproduction is disrupted by faulty human practices. Firstly, fish like salmon are artificially fertilized and fed food treated with antibiotics and chemicals that negatively affect the fish. Since the fish are kept in small, confined spaces, the fish become less intelligent because they live in a simplified environment. Because there is a lack of diversity in their environment, there is a negative psychological effect on the fish that makes them less likely to survive in the completely different environment of the wild. Also, since they do not live in streams, fish like salmon are unable to live with a specific scent that will guide them back home to reproduce. Even though fish hatcheries can try to restore the salmon fish population, they cannot do so with their current methods. Fish hatcheries currently feed fish by tossing food on the surface of the water where the fish go to eat it. After some time of learning that food is at the surface, young fish will be transported to rivers hungry and will go to the surface to find food. However, this causes at least 97% of young fish to be eaten by birds before they even make it to the ocean. By continuing to feed salmon and other fish in this detrimental …show more content…
Since hatcheries release hatchery fish, those have to compete for habitat and food with their wild counterparts. Once released fish grown in farms can interbreed with wild fish and result in weaker offspring that are less likely to survive. These offspring and the hatchery fish themselves are more susceptible to disease since all their food is treated with antibiotics. The antibiotics work against the fish by making them more susceptible to different diseases, which could then spread to wild fish. http://www.opb.org/news/blog/ecotrope/the-highs-and-lows-of-hatcheries/ Fish raised in farms are also known to be genetically impaired and can cause lower reproductive fitness. When creating offspring, the bad traits are passed on to their children. One of the problems of fish learning behavior of food on the surface could possibly be solved by creating new ways to feed them from under the water through pipe openings that disperse the food.
a) As it stands, man-made dams disrupt the complex and specific life cycle of the Pacific salmon. Dams impact and affect the pivotal reproduction of the salmon species by causing a disturbance in the pattern of migration during the reproductive season. The Pacific salmon goes through two miracles in its lifetime of transformations of changing its entire system to go form fresh water to salt water. The miracles of the fish bodies adapting to the change in environment are caused by migration for dietary and security reasons. Salmon migrate from a young age from freshwater streams into the ocean because of an abundance of food and less predators to increase the probability of growing to mature reproductive age. Salmons …show more content…
While the hatchery does raise thousands of young fish, many of them don’t survive long enough to reproduce and the complex steps that go into their reproduction is disrupted by faulty human practices. Firstly, fish like salmon are artificially fertilized and fed food treated with antibiotics and chemicals that negatively affect the fish. Since the fish are kept in small, confined spaces, the fish become less intelligent because they live in a simplified environment. Because there is a lack of diversity in their environment, there is a negative psychological effect on the fish that makes them less likely to survive in the completely different environment of the wild. Also, since they do not live in streams, fish like salmon are unable to live with a specific scent that will guide them back home to reproduce. Even though fish hatcheries can try to restore the salmon fish population, they cannot do so with their current methods. Fish hatcheries currently feed fish by tossing food on the surface of the water where the fish go to eat it. After some time of learning that food is at the surface, young fish will be transported to rivers hungry and will go to the surface to find food. However, this causes at least 97% of young fish to be eaten by birds before they even make it to the ocean. By continuing to feed salmon and other fish in this detrimental …show more content…
Since hatcheries release hatchery fish, those have to compete for habitat and food with their wild counterparts. Once released fish grown in farms can interbreed with wild fish and result in weaker offspring that are less likely to survive. These offspring and the hatchery fish themselves are more susceptible to disease since all their food is treated with antibiotics. The antibiotics work against the fish by making them more susceptible to different diseases, which could then spread to wild fish. http://www.opb.org/news/blog/ecotrope/the-highs-and-lows-of-hatcheries/ Fish raised in farms are also known to be genetically impaired and can cause lower reproductive fitness. When creating offspring, the bad traits are passed on to their children. One of the problems of fish learning behavior of food on the surface could possibly be solved by creating new ways to feed them from under the water through pipe openings that disperse the food.