Mike Connerton and the NYDECs fin clipping study concluded that pen rearing did not help imprinting. Imprinting was just as successful in pen reared fish as direct stocked fish. During the study there was very little evidence to point suggesting fish were straying to the Salmon River. Some did but the percentages were very small. In the study they also concluded that there is a 2 to 1 survival (rate pen vs direct stock). Although I would have liked to see double the amount of data years, a lot of assumptions are now in place from the study. That study changed our focus in pen rearing to concentrate on survival. Since then we have pushed hard to hold more pen reared fish annually, better food, feeders, ect.