Chuck n Duck

Didn't mean to portray myself as anti-commercial netting; I'm actually not as against it as a lot on this board. I agree with just about everything you say, emphasizing that netting of depressed runs either by target or bycatch needs to be controlled or eliminated.

I actually applaud many of the commercial fisheries in Alaska that are well controlled, have no intercept issues, bycatch issues, or form coops with hatcheries and target those fish. These are creative ways that use the available science (fish management) and technology to stay efficient (defining efficient as to consistently harvesting to sustainable yield), like any other successful business venture.

I simply think that farmed fish helps satisfy a growing market demand that present wild salmon resources cannot sustain. I should have made more clear, that I too believe that the biggest problem is down here in the lower 48.

I haven't heard of the 500 lb salmon thing, what a silly idea (cow salmon?!). But I do know that some smart bunch of fellows in the then Wa Dept. fish and Game actually tried to start Atlantic salmon runs during the early eighties. Hatchery smolts were planted in several streams, concentrating on the Green River, for several years. The run never did take; seems Atlantics are just not up to anadromous migration in this half of the world. This indicates to me that the occasional pen breaks of Atlantic salmon would do no harm to the existing resource. Triploid rainbows are also safe; sterile as sterile gets.

There are still disease issues, but no outbreaks have ever been recorded in anadromous populations attributed to net pens. With the dilution offered by the marine environment, the situation is vastly different then say, the outbreaks of whirling disease in Montana streams.

Bottom line, I don't advocate aquaculture driving commercial fisheries out of business. But I do believe they can relieve market demand that may otherwise put pressure on depressed stocks. I also believe they provide an additional competitive force that would make the existing commercial fishing industry evolve just like any other business sector.