Couple Thousand Fish Escape-Oops/The moon did it-Oops/Lies and Fish in Washington

Several thousand nonnative fish "escaped" a fish "ecosystem" was the original story this Canadian company who is a pillar of the community claimed. Then the truth comes out and it is 160,000 non native salmon that escaped. Oopsy.

The Canadian company that operates the farm originally claimed that “several thousand” non-native Atlantics escaped into the Salish Sea, the ecosystem that runs from the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia to the southernmost waters of Puget Sound in Washington state, home of the wild Pacific salmon.
Documents filed with state regulators show that a fish farm that broke apart Aug. 19 in the San Juan Islands released more than 160,000 farm-raised Atlantic salmon into Washington state waters — far more than the original estimate — and that the holding pen for the fish was “due for complete replacement.”

Then the reputable company claimed the moon created strong currents. Then a report from the US army Corps of engineers said the 30 year old pen had weakened anchors that couldn't stand the strong currents.Oopsy.

The company also initially said that unusually strong currents, triggered by the moon during the solar eclipse, had caused the pen to break open.

The company, Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, later backed off the linking of the failure to the eclipse. But records filed by the company with the state Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicate that the 30-year-old floating farm’s failure was probably the combination of a strong underwater current winning out over a weakened anchoring system that kept the pen in place.

www.latimes.com...

Lies. This company was informed of the weak anchors for the fish farm that is in a river, and chose to roll the dice. The release of non-native salmon into the ecosystem could cause a huge problem with the native species. And the company tried to minimize the damage by lying. I would hope that there is a large fine.


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Literally all the fish in California are non native, spare a few. I would be more concerned if it were a fish such as the snakehead. Salmon at least won't decimate an ecosystem like those little sh***

a reply to: TheLotLizard

I think the concern is the farm fish making the native species weaker and sick.

a reply to: seasonal
The article doesn't explain why they were raising atlantic salmon in a pacific farm. Why not raise pacific salmon in the pacific ecosystem where if there was any escape it would be of native species?

They say fishermen were recapturing some of the lost fish and that numbers were being tracked but they don't report the numbers.

The lucky little bastards.
They won't wind up being flat on the barbie or whipped up into a mousse!

originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: seasonal
The article doesn't explain why they were raising atlantic salmon in a pacific farm. Why not raise pacific salmon in the pacific ecosystem where if there was any escape it would be of native species?

They say fishermen were recapturing some of the lost fish and that numbers were being tracked but they don't report the numbers.

The answer that I found is that they are easier to farm than Pacific salmon.

Atlantic salmon are not native to the Pacific Northwest. For years, they have been bred to become easier to farm — they're more "highly domesticated,"according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Most commercial fish farms raise Atlantic salmon.

NPR.org
I suppose another question wpuld be, Why not raise Atlantic salmon in the Atlanic Ocean?

My best guess would be that almost all the Salmon canneries in rhe US are located in three states on the west coast... Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

I blame the government for licensing the operation and then not keeping tabs on it.

Just like any invasive species they have in the Great Lakes, the government allowed it, even encouraged it, through licenses and permits, just to make some more revenue. Of course they also use those same laws to squash any competition in areas that big business has any lobbying efforts.

If some fish farming operation was paying off the politicians and they wanted to beat out the local fishing competition, you can be damned sure the government would regulate the fisherman out of the picture while looking the other way when the fish farm is breaking the laws. Not to mention the natural consequences, those are never giving consideration when playing ball with the big boys, but they'd use it on the little guys for sure.

ETA: I buy my fishing license to sport fish our trout river and have to obey the laws like, don't dump your bait minnows into the water, don't clean the fish near the river, make sure your boat isn't carrying invasive species, etc. You know what I caught last time I fished? Those damned google-eyed Russian Gobby fish. The river is full of Zebra mussels, lamprey eels, and now Gobby fish, but hell to pay if they DNR catch me without a license or too small of sized game fish. Yet the government allowed the tankers to discharge waste water after they go through the St. Lawrence sea way they made, both of which brought in invasive species. Screw them like they screw us and the environment.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

One plus to farming salmon would be that it takes pressure off of the wild populations of salmon.
Some species of salmon were approaching extinction on the west coast in the middle part of the 20th century.

a reply to: butcherguy

Yeah I understand, but does the government give a crap about the wild stock, esp. when the fishermen are competing with the fish farms?

Can't have fresh, clean, healthy, non-GMO wild fish stock to compete with the farms they allowed to raise non-native species in. Can't have some extra income or food for the Native Americans who have fishing rights for the wild stocks. I bet they share diseases and parasites and it wipes out the native wild stock in to extinction.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I agree with you.
I was just saying that I found one plus to farming fish. It was the only plus, and comes with caveats, some of whuch you listed.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: TheLotLizard

I think the concern is the farm fish making the native species weaker and sick.

That is exactly it. This current leak isn't the first, either. This has been a big concern and one of the reasons fish farming is not popular here.

Pacific salmon are already being threatened by a number of things. Non native farmed atlantic salmon will carry diseases and parasites the pacific salmon have no natural resistance to.

Pacific Salmon are different in many ways, but because they are already suffering from many other things and their populations declining, Atlantic salmon would push them over the edge.

a reply to: butcherguy

That's basically it. Pacific salmon are still more "wild" and due to differences in breeding and spawning factors, not really suitable for farming.

I agree, farming Atlantic Salmon in the Atlantic ocean makes more sense, but there are a number of reasons they don't do that. One reason, at least in the U.S., is that the waters of the U.S. Atlantic coast, being on the gulf stream, are too warm for salmon, a cold water fish. With the exception of Northern Maine coast and Canada, of course, where the water is cold enough for them. Atlantic Salmon are native to the north atlantic, and the biggest salmon farms for the atlantic type are in places like Scotland, Norway, ect.

a reply to: butcherguy

I also agreed with your post, no argument there.

Having some program that takes pressure off the struggling wild populations of fish is a good thing, except for the problems that it can cause of course.

a reply to: seasonal

Non-native species are almost always bad news, no matter how innocent they may appear...

No worries, these fish won't know where to spawn and this will be the only generation.
Besides, these fish will make good food for larger native fish.
Could be a win-win for the environment.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

I admire your optimism.

PLUS........

They told all us Washingtonians that we can go out and catch as many as we can..

Haven't seen my brother in a week..

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
No worries, these fish won't know where to spawn and this will be the only generation.
Besides, these fish will make good food for larger native fish.
Could be a win-win for the environment.

You are probably correct.
Atlantic salmon were previously stocked in the Pacific and none of the attempts were successful.
There is a timeline at this link....Salmon fishing now.
Not to say that is a win/win.... there are other thinga to consider, like disease.