4,500 Atlantic Salmon Escape From Boat

Call it the “Great Escape,” salmon style.

About 4,500 Atlantic salmon escaped from a boat transporting them to a processing plant.

The fish, raised by Stolt Sea Farms of Campbell River, were part of a cargo of 12,500 market-ready salmon, said federal Fisheries Department spokesman Ron Ginetz.

They were being transported by Orca Shipping of Campbell River in a live boat, a vessel that keeps fish alive by taking in sea water. One of the screens in the cargo hold was not secured properly, and the fish escaped into Johnstone Strait off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island on Tuesday.

Commercial gillnetters going after sockeye Thursday were surprised at the large number of Atlantics they were catching in the area.

The escape doesn’t threaten wild salmon, Ginetz said: The possibility of the Atlantic salmon establishing a viable population here is extremely remote.

Wild Pacific salmon are much stronger than farmed Atlantic salmon and will have no trouble competing with them for food and territory, Ginetz said.

Fisheries officers were monitoring commercial catches, but the department will not attempt to recover the Atlantic salmon. Charges are unlikely because the escape was clearly an accident, Ginetz said.