Without digging deeply into the study, it sounds like junk science to me.

The main question that comes to mind is, how do they count the wild-hatched fry? At hatching, or after nature has already sorted them out?

Captive egg hatching rates is probably very high. Many marginal eggs probably hatch, and marginal fry survive to releasing size.

Wild egg hatching rates are probably much lower, and by the time the fry are the size to be included in a study, only the vigorous ones have survived. So the deck is stacked.

I don't see a downside to hatcheries. Even though the survival *rate* may possibly be lower, the number of survivors are probably equal.

Shrimp