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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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At least 1 escaped salmon found in south Puget Sound waters

Allen Cooke, left, and Nathan Cultee emerge from the hold of the Marathon on Aug. 22, 2017 after having separated out the 16 farm-raised Atlantic salmon they caught fishing off Point Williams, Wash. (Dean Rutz / Associated Press)
Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Nisqually Tribe says an escaped Atlantic salmon has been caught by a tribal member in the Tacoma area, far from the San Juan Islands where thousands of the farmed salmon escaped because of damaged net pens in August.

The Olympian reports the tribe told the newspaper Friday the tribal member caught the salmon in the Nisqually River last Sunday.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s online map on Friday afternoon showed nearly 1,600 catches of escaped Atlantic salmon had been logged by anglers. The catches run from Texada Island, B.C., to near Seattle’s Alki Beach.

As of Friday, the Department of Natural Resources estimated upward of 160,000 of Cooke Aquaculture’s marine salmon farm’s 305,000 Atlantic salmon got loose, based on company reports that it had recovered about 142,000 of the fish.