Eco-Disaster In Washington: State Needs Anglers To Catch Escaped Non-Native Salmon

CYPRESS ISLAND, WA - To avert a potential ecological disaster, the state of Washington is calling all fishermen to help catch 305,000 Atlantic salmon that escaped from a farm over the weekend. The owner of the farm, Cooke Aquaculture, has claimed that a high tide on Saturday related to the solar eclipse helped the non-native salmon escape - although some doubt that since tides have been higher around Puget Sound before the fish jail-break.

No matter how it happened, the Atlantic salmon pose a great threat to native species in Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands, where Cook Aquaculture's farm is located. Wildlife officials worry the Atlantic salmon could introduce new diseases to the ecosystem and could compete for food.

“Our first concern, of course, is to protect native fish species,” said head of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Program chief Ron Warren in a statement. “So we’d like to see as many of these escaped fish caught as possible.”

The release of the potentially-damaging Atlantic salmon has been a concern for tribal fishermen near the San Juans, especially as Cooke looks to open more pen-farming operations.

"Amongst the tribes, these net pen operations have been a big concern, and we have grave issues with their proposed expansion and negative effects to wild salmon resources,” Casey Ruff, management director of the Skagit River System Cooperative, told Crosscut this week.

Cooke Aquaculture is using large nets to wrangle as many fish as possible, but the state needs help from fishermen, too. The fish weigh up 10 pounds each and are not only edible, they're delicious. There are no size or catch limits, but anglers must have a fishing license and can only fish in sea and freshwater locations already open to fishing.

And since it's still Pacific salmon season, anglers must stop fishing for Atlantic salmon once the daily Pacific salmon limit is reached.

The fish are believed to be in the area of Rosario Strait around Blakely and Cypress islands. If you're thinking about a last-minute fishing trip, Bellingham International Airport is closest, and the area is also served by Amtrak.

Image via state of Washington