I was channel surfing and seen a speaker on PBS last night (just the end of his speach) he was talking about the dangers of pen raised salmon. It has sparked a few questions in my head and I would like to call apon the wisdom of the board (you guys know who you are).

he had some stats of a few new england rivers which the escaped atlantics out number the native returns by 100 to 1. I understand that some of the atlantics return to the sea after spawning like steelhead. so after a while they could take over the river systems, so there defently would be risk in raising atlantics in the pacific.

1st Q. do the pens only raise atlantic salmon or could they get local pacific fry and raise them in the pens. Oak Harbor has a silver pens that get sented to the harbor and released and the tulalip has its kings and both get OK returns. The pens do not release the fish but feed them till harvest.
2nd Q. if either atlantics/pacifics were raised for any lenth of time in salt would they not be scented to the salt where the pens are and not go to a river to try to spawn. 10 miles out would leave a big buffer for them to find a river...

Im on the fence about if pens are a good thing (no market for gill netted fish)or a bad idea (intoduction on non-native fish would not be good). so any thoughts/opinions would be great....DJ

Not to change the subject, but along the same lines as the pens.........What happens when these alantic salmon in pens get out for some reason. Will the hit our rivers?, and can they spawn with our hatchery, and wild salmon (like a mixed breed). Lastly, if they do spawn, how often does someone here catch one when they are fishing a local river, are they rare? I seem to recall years ago something like this happened. ANy info?
Thanks

Reply to Question 2

They (Muckleshoot) has a net pen in Elliot Bay.
Every year they return and die in the salt.

We have seen them every year going back and fourth and then they all die and wash up on shore.

I am sure some of them head up to the Green with other hatchery fish but there is a big number that just die in the salt.

I remember hearing awhile ago that it was confirmed that they could spawn in our rivers, but that they were no threat to native salmon because no returning fish had ever been recorded. All the adult Atlantics caught were pen escapees. And no, Atlantics cannot interbreed with Pacific species.

i'm not even sure they could breed with pacific salmon, but i could be wrong. they're in the same genus as brown trout, if i remember right

The common thought is that they can breed. They are also supposed to be chemically or heat sterilized . The process is not 100% however.

If you see a pen raised salmon immediately hodl your nose and wrap yoor body in foil before the fish infects your brain and you die.

Several years ago a huge number of Atlantic Salmon escaped from a South Puget Sound pen. They opened season on them with no limit to how many fish you could keep but I have never heard of any of them being seen in any of the local river systems. I have heard however that a few of them have been caught in Alaskan waters proving that they still have the migratory instinct.

I recently watched a documentry on this issue from a WA film maker. The film was well done and did a good job of allowing both sides an opportunity for rebuttal of each issue.

Some of the highlights I recall were:
1. Atlantics can spawn with Pacific Salmon in the Wild
2. They can occupy our streems and displace Pacific Salmon
3. Disease in the net pens located close to natural streams spreads disease, like sea lice, to young fry leaving the streams the the fry die.
4. The net pen waste is untreated and pollutes the floor of Puget Sound
5. It takes a lot of feed to produce a farmed raised fish, and much is wasted. This feed could easily be used to feed humans. (This argument was directed at the counter argument that farm raised salmon might solve world hunger.
6. Orcas in the wild spit these fish out when they mistake it for a Pacific Salmon.

As a lay peson, I would like to see these pens moved into tanks on land and the effluent treated before being discharged. Or we could just ban commercial fishing in WA and all eat the healthy AK stocks.

I'm sure there are many on this board more familure with this issue, so please, give us the scoop from the side of this issue you are most knowledgeable on.

5. It takes a lot of feed to produce a farmed raised fish, and much is wasted. This feed could easily be used to feed humans.

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Well would you volunteer to eat the stuff if we can get the farms to stop wasting it on the fish?

To tell you some truth, I like fishing near net pens (im not going to list the ones I fish) the excess food that washes out of the pen attracts baitfish....and where there is bait there is bait eaters....DJ

Personally, I think the risks of net pen fish are overrated. Net pen Atlantic salmon actually give us more Pacific salmon. You can thank those net pen Atlantic salmon for the glut of salmon on the market, which causes low prices, which drives commercial fishermen out of the market, which leaves more Pacific salmon for us.

Arklier, Yes that is true but I think the commercial has to fish regardless if they don't want to lose their license. I am not totally sure but I know they used to do it regardless of price so they don't lose the permit for future harvest of given species.

The poor energy conversion to produce a pound of meat is true for all farm raised meat except free range organic. Beef is among the worst. then all their crap runs off into streams and then into the ocean. Worse yet if we all raised our own at current population levels the pollution would be 1000x worse.

The largest Trout in the state sit right out side a net pen eating the excess. They are so fat they set your bargeque on fire when you cook them. They avg. 8 lbs with many into the high 20 and low 30lb range.

djfishs, I agree with you on fishing near net pens, theres fish all around them, bottomfish and salmon