From Johnny Fish‐Seed to Hatchery‐Bashing to Shaping the Shoal of Aquaculture Stakeholders

The American Fisheries Society (AFS) was founded during the early days of North American fish propagation, when pioneering fish culturists first began to coax food and fishing opportunities from pails of eggs and wriggling fry. In the absence of effective regulations and the will to enforce measures to prevent overfishing and habitat loss, fisheries professionals looked to hatcheries to fully address the problem of fisheries in decline. In the intervening decades, it became clear that hatcheries were not a panacea, but could be an effective tool for both enhancement and recovery. Fish culture has been practiced in North America for well over 150 years. Thanks partly to AFS and its members, why and how we propagate fish has changed dramatically during that time. In this piece, we briefly recount the history of North American fish culture, how AFS has influenced our understanding and use of hatcheries and hatchery-origin fish, and provide a glimpse of what transformations may yet await fish culturists.