Atlantic Salmon

[trophyelk6x6]

Seems like even though they are drones in a pen, their genetic instincs are taking them into our rivers. I got this article while up in Campbell River BC last week. Seen it in a local Islander News article.  Got my attention when it referenced our last pen disaster off Bainbridge Island.  Those fish can swim just fine LOL. 

[trophyelk6x6]

let me know if the attachment doesn't open ok, I will try to figure it out.

[lokidog]

The fish from the most recent disaster ARE NOT SPAWNING!  They were too young to spawn this year, simple biology....

[Fungunnin]

Millions of Atlantic Salmon have been released on the pacific coast and not one reproducing population has taken hold.

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[h2ofowlr]

They sure were fun to catch though!   

[Skillet]

The fish from the most recent disaster ARE NOT SPAWNING!  They were too young to spawn this year, simple biology....

If that's what Cooke Aquaculture is telling us, forgive me my skepticism.  They are having a harder time telling the truth than a Clinton.

Millions of Atlantic Salmon have been released on the pacific coast and not one reproducing population has taken hold.

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I do hope that stays true.  Our fisheries can't afford another blow - especially Puget Sound kings.

[lokidog]

The fish from the most recent disaster ARE NOT SPAWNING!  They were too young to spawn this year, simple biology....

If that's what Cooke Aquaculture is telling us, forgive me my skepticism.  They are having a harder time telling the truth than a Clinton.

Millions of Atlantic Salmon have been released on the pacific coast and not one reproducing population has taken hold.

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I do hope that stays true.  Our fisheries can't afford another blow - especially Puget Sound kings.

No need to hear a word from them.  Anyone with a brain could tell that the egg masses were not mature enough for them to spawn this season.

[Skillet]

Not everyone who cares about this (even those with brains) were able to catch these fish and make the same observations as you, Loki.  I, however, have seen the guts out of tens of thousands of pacific salmon over the last four years, and I can assure you that the rapid increase of gamete size towards the spawn would surprise most folks.  I'm assuming that you are experienced enough to make an intelligent observation about this, however, and I'll go along that you are correct that these fish you caught weren't yet ready to spawn.

But why did they run the rivers, if not to spawn?  I have seen no information that says Atlantics take sightseeing tours up rivers en masse.  What was observed 40+ miles up the Skagit seems far above the normal percentange of native jacks that run the rivers.

As evident as it must be to you that these fish couldn't spawn this year, it must be something you accept that they will soon grow and mature to spawning age, yes?  They've already proven they'll run the rivers, so it's not like they couldn't spawn for either lack of maturity or habitat at that point.

A final question - It seems counter-intuitive to me that you, a San Juan Islands resident, would be so in favor of fish farming to the point of not being able to acknowledge this as a negative event in for Puget Sound salmon.  There is no way this release is going to improve the pacific salmon situation in the Puget Sound, and therefore is a direct threat to your enjoyment of the native resources in your home waters.  Would you humor me with some enlightenment on your support of farming non-native stocks in our waters?  You seem like a very intelligent man, and I respect your contributions to this site - but I am puzzled by this strong position you've taken supporting Cooke Aquaculture.

[lokidog]

Sure.  I have seen no credible evidence that these fish, or the farms, are actually having a detrimental effect on the native salmon.  There have been similar fish farms in the area for forty years including attempts in the late 1800's to actually establish runs and the decline in native salmon has not correlated to these fish being here. 

These fish are at more risk of catching diseases from native salmon than the other way around as these fish did not evolve with native pathogens. If the argument is that these fish are a reservoir for disease, then this argument should be made toward hatcheries of any kind as well. There was little evidence that these fish were successfully consuming forage fish, so it actually surprises me and the "experts" I know that there are even any left, though they did start with massive fat reserves. Some people claim these fish are "toxic", I'd bet dollars to donuts that an Elliot Bay salmon has higher toxin levels than a farmed fish since, I have no doubt the fish food is monitored for such things whereas, especially South Sound, forage fish are not.

As far as them going up the rivers, these fish have spent their lives in a giant school and probably just latched onto whatever congregation of fish they came across.

I am a proponent of farmed fish because I believe they take a lot of pressure off of "wild" fish being caught for human food.  Face it, humans like to eat salmon and our wild populations cannot support the level of harvest to supply this demand, especially here in WA. 

Could/should Cooke have done a better job? I'm sure the answer is yes.  We require oil tankers to be double hulled, why not a double net barrier for these farms?

I hope this helps.

[Fungunnin]

The only positive aspect of this release is it heavily strengthened the opposition to farmed fish in Puget sound and will likely lead to the removal of net pens in Washington waters.

Farm raised fish is absolutely necessary I just don't want it in my back yard...

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[j_h_nimrod]

Correct me if I am wrong, none of the fish found so far in fresh water have been sexually mature.  I have not heard of any and, though I have not been looking, this would have made big news.  Essentially, people are making a monstrous deal about these confused cows following the herd.

Why do otherwise intelligent people think that Atlantic salmon would have any better chance of thriving here with no additional benefits vs. the Pacific salmon that have genetically adapted to this coast and are being given every possible, probable, and improbable advantage?  It is not like the Atlantic’s are being dropped into a super rich environment ready for an invasive species to take advantage of. The Atlantics have proven they are as susceptible to decline on their native coast as Pacifics are on theirs.

This is just the next BIG catastrophe that the conservationists and “wild” fish folks have spun to convince the ignorant masses that farmed fish is the Devil! (Said in the voice of Kathy Bates of The Waterboy). There has been enough negative press and opinion thrown around the I5 corridor that a valuable business could be removed from this state or so heavily restricted that the cost of business will become prohibitive.

It will not surprise me to see another poorly written and emotion grabbing initiative  make it way to the ballot to be voted on by people who have no business voting on something they know nothing about.

[WAcoueshunter]

Farm raised fish is absolutely necessary I just don't want it in my back yard...

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   NIMBY - feel kinda selfish, but there is plenty of saltwater and native stocks that are under less stress than puget sound.

Double nets seem like a good idea. Of course, so does more regular monitoring.  Charge them a license fee that pays enough to have regular checkups.  Sounds like the nets hadn't been cleaned and the drag from mussels and other junk was the primary problem.  Shame on them, but also shame on the agency that should have been monitoring.  That kinda thing doesn't sneak up overnight. 

[gasman]

I gotta side with Loki on this, they have had  farm raise atlany
Tic salmon in sound for as long as I can remember, nets have broken, pens have  crushed and fished were released but not once has a single Atlantic ever bread .....

I remember in the 90s when a pen in Bremerton broke, we were catching them all over Owens beach and the game dept tolx every one, get the fish, there free game and no worries of them reproducing, they are sterile fish.

[Skillet]

It does help Loki, thanks.  You have some interesting points.  I, clearly, am looking at it from a different perspective now. But as a former sport fisherman (still am, had some great walleye fishing while I was on a visit home last weekend), I still feel the sting of saltwater opportunity being taken away from the weekend warriors.
 

The only positive aspect of this release is it heavily strengthened the opposition to farmed fish in Puget sound and will likely lead to the removal of net pens in Washington waters.

Farm raised fish is absolutely necessary I just don't want it in my back yard...

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Quote of the day.  Salmon farming operations are springing up in a lot of places, when those large volumes of fish are harvested it really impacts our bottom line as commercials.

If salmon become unharvestable, I suppose there's always tuna...

[WAcoueshunter]

I think the river/spawning thing is a non-issue.  If any of them spawned from the many releases, why don't you hear about Atlantic shakers being caught?

To me, the big concern is them eating forage fish and smolts, the concentrated waste around the pens, and the potential for disease.  For those that say we shouldn't be worried about disease, I bet the domestic sheep herders used to say domestic sheep didn't pose a threat to wild sheep either.  We now know different.  Cooke has had some massive die offs.  I don't want that spreading.