Differential reproductive success of sympatric, naturally spawning hatchery and wild steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) through the adult stage

Abstract

We used multilocus microsatellite analysis to compare the reproductive success of naturally spawning wild steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with a newly established sympatric hatchery population in Forks Creek, Washington, U.S.A. Hatchery steelhead spawning in the wild had markedly lower reproductive success than native wild steelhead. Wild females that spawned in 1996 produced 9 times as many adult offspring per capita as did hatchery females that spawned in the wild. Wild females that spawned in 1997 produced 42 times as many adult offspring as hatchery females. The wild steelhead population more than met replacement requirements (approximately 3.7–6.7 adult offspring were produced per female), but the hatchery steelhead were far below replacement requirements (<0.5 adults per female). The survival differential was greatest in the freshwater environment (i.e., production of seaward-migrating juveniles), but survival at sea favored the hatchery population in 1 year and the wild population in the next. The poor performance of the hatchery population may be a consequence of spawning too early in the winter, generations of inadvertent domestication selection, or a combination of these two.