THE HATCHERY SCIENTIFIC REVIEW GROUP

From left to right: John Barr, Lee Blankenship, Donald Campton, Trevor Evelyn, Thomas Flagg, Conrad Mahnken, Lars Mobrand, Lisa Seeb, Paul Seidel, William Smoker.

The Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG) is the independent scientific panel established and funded by Congress to provide an autonomous and credible evaluation of hatchery reform as part of the Puget Sound and Coastal Washington Hatchery Reform Project. The objective of the HSRG is to assemble, organize, and apply the best available scientific information and to provide guidance to the policymakers and technical staff who are implementing hatchery reform.

The HSRG is composed of five independent scientists (selected from a pool of candidates nominated by the American Fisheries Society) and four agency scientists designated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC), NOAA Fisheries, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Like the independent scientists, the agency scientists are responsible for evaluating scientific merits and are not to represent agency policies. The nine scientists serving on the HSRG have a broad range of experience. Their scientific disciplines include biology, genetics, ecology, fisheries, fish culture, fish pathology, biometrics, and other disciplines. The members are:

• John Barr, NWIFC (HSRG Vice Chair)
• Lee Blankenship, Northwest Marine Technology (HSRG Vice Chair)
• Donald Campton, Ph.D., USFWS
• Trevor Evelyn, Ph.D., Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (retired)
• Conrad Mahnken, Ph.D., NOAA Fisheries, Manchester Research Station (retired)
• Lars Mobrand, Ph.D., Mobrand Biometrics (HSRG Chair)
• Lisa Seeb, Ph.D., Alaska Department of Fish and Game
• Paul Seidel, WDFW
• William Smoker, Ph.D., University of Alaska
• Thomas Flagg, NOAA Fisheries (alternate)

Click to download HSRG biographies

Called "pioneering" by preeminent Northwest fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich and "an extraordinary blueprint for making . hatcheries a smarter, more efficient piece of salmon recovery" by The Seattle Times, the HSRG's work is unprecedented. It ranges from specific, science-based recommendations for nearly 1,000 program-level changes at more than 100 hatcheries, to a philosophic sea change in how to think about hatcheries as a way to help recover naturally spawning populations and to support sustainable fisheries, embodied in the HSRG's Principles for Reform.

Four years in the making, the HSRG report was released in April 2004. In addition to providing recommendations for change, the report contains the tools necessary to implement reform, including a scientific framework, a benefit/risk assessment model, a research program, monitoring and evaluation criteria, and new operational guidelines for hatcheries. The report features nine white papers on emerging issues relevant to 21st-century hatchery management, such as the effect of changing ocean conditions on fisheries, preventing hatchery fish from preying on wild fish, and methods for preserving genetic diversity and fitness in hatchery populations.