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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Oops, Wrong Ocean

Associated Press

Salmon fishing

After an estimated 300,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from their torn pens in Puget Sound last month, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife urged licensed anglers, dip netters and beach seiners to keep any of the fish they can catch.

The fish escaped off Bainbridge Island after Global Aqua USA tore several of its net pens while trying to tow them, with fish inside, to Vashon Island. The company was hauling about 2 million farm-bred Atlantic salmon when at least five pens caught on chains attached to anchors and broke open.

Dave Seiler, a Fish and Wildlife research scientist, said “We don’t believe they pose a great hazard” to native wild fish, but he added, “we definitely don’t want these animals free in our environment.”

Atlantic salmon thrive in rivers bordering the Atlantic Ocean, but they have failed to establish breeding populations on the West Coast. Efforts to introduce them in Washington and British Columbia have failed, and farm-bred stocks are so domesticated they quickly starve outside of their pens, Seiler said.