So if I understand this properly the mission statement of a hatchery is "Produce more harvestable fish as cheap as possible".

They aren't to concerned of genetic make-up, just the fish that raise well in hatcheries and have high return yields.

They are only there for the harvesters, not to help with the returns of the wild fish.

I guess I never gave it that much thought. I was under the impression the hatcheries captured native fish to raise in the pens to help offset the lost habitat due to dams ect.

I was figuring the hatcheries could produce more in pens, then could occur in nature.

Which has a better return rate? 100 wild fish captured and raised in a hatchery or 100 wild salmon doing their own thing.

What I am trying to get at is if hatchery have better returns wouldn't it be beneficial to rear wild fish in hatcherys ? Release them "unclipped" and rinse and repeat until wild levels reach optimum?