Obsessed, I appreciate your command of numbers but I think that considering the possible consequences of failure it is reckless to raise foxes so close to the chicken coop, so to say.
Do you know of any research detailing why adult Atlantics could not survive in the Pacific?
Are the few juvenile Atlantics found remnants, as you suggest, or are they a first generation of river spawners? Noone knows but isn't it possible that if the net pen industry loses a few hundred thousand a year then eventually some will meander into a river and spawn successfully? Saying that there is no science to support this is easy because there isn't yet much science studying the issue of west coast introduction of Atlantics at all. Lack of evidence is no evidence either way. Shouldn't we be looking for positive evidence that for whatever reasons Atlantics can't gain a toehold on the Pacific coast before we screw around with the ecosystem?

Obsessed, I'm not trying to start one of those bitchy arguments that occasionally pop up here. I respect your knowledge and I have big blanks in my own knowledge on the subject and would appreciate any enlightenment you could send my way.
There are strong arguments for net pen operations -- DrifterWA you're on the mark. There are also some possibly huge impacts. As LandTuna pointed out the ocean bait fish populations are getting worked over pretty good. If that keeps up how will that affect fish populations?
Some days it seems like whereever you turn you can't find a solution. Time to go fishin'. Anyone know a good Tiger Muskie lure for the Willamette??