Escaped farmed salmon can hunt prey, biologist says

A wild Pacific salmon smolt found in the stomach of an Atlantic salmon on the lam shows escaped farm fish are capable of hunting prey, says a prominent critic of fish farms...

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/...72e&k=53947

It's hard to not be a smartass concerning that article, but I'll try.

When the escapees are caught, and while I've never caught one, I assume that they are caught using something other than "pellets", wouldn't that signify that they have learned to feed?

I'm not sure what is/was expected.....is it commonly believed that Atlantics starve to death if they escape?

My guess is that even in net pens there is the occassional prey animal that enter, so they would likely have seen herring or other forage fish.

Marine Harvest told me that, even if they get in there, their fish don't eat them

this has to be one of the stupidest statement i have ever read.

No big surprise there....
Feeding and fornicating are hard wired into every creatures brain.

Many years ago, I saw something on TV about a project that release fish into the ocean and they came back on schedule, to this facility and were captured for commercial harvest at the facility.

Anybody else remember that.

Are you referring to Weyerhauser's foray into fish farming in Oregon? That occurred in the 1970s. The state wouldn't scale back recreational and commercial salmon fishing so that Weyerhauser could recover enough product for the venture to be economically viable, so they dropped it.

Sg

yep, thats it. I kept thinking Weyerhauser, but I didnt trust the memory chip.

Larry,
who was your contact at Marine Harvest, and which facility?

Marine Harvest reacts to Atlantic salmon escape

BROUGHTON ARCHIPELAGO - Marine Harvest Canada said they managed to recover 1,073 of approximately 40,000 Atlantic salmon that escaped from a fish farm in the Broughton Archipelago.

And the company says it has put in place measures to prevent any further escapes.

The Atlantics escaped from the company's Port Elizabeth site, at the south end of Gilford Island, Oct. 21.

The loss was discovered after scuba divers found several holes in two pens while removing fish which had died as a result of low oxygen levels, said a company press release.

Prevention methods to eliminate further escape are in place, the company said, and this incident has been reported to regulators. The cause of the holes remains under investigation, but may be related to the fish removal process.

"This is something that has to be taken seriously," said Clare Backman, environmental ....
http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/campbellrivermirror/news/67329562.html

Open net pens are a problem recognized in B.C. I'll have to find the notebook I put the latest links in on current research/reports.
Here's one source: http://www.aquaticnuisance.org/fact-sheets/atlantic-salmon
Thanks for posting

Thanks my Lady

Let's not forget that the largest group who oppose salmon farming are, guess what, commercial fisherman. It's a shocker. They're hidden behind the guise of various conservation groups actually concerned with the well-being of fish stocks.

They've been whining for decades now that Atlantic salmon will wipe out our Pacific salmon and steelhead runs by over-competition and predation. True story; one person I talked to years ago who was a staunch anti-farmed salmon went so far as to tell me that they would inbreed with Pacific salmon.

Many if not most of the arguments against salmon farming have turned out to be complete lies or overly exaggerated, i.e., "dead zones," antibiotics, disease transfer, competition with natives, etc.

True story; one person I talked to years ago who was a staunch anti-farmed salmon went so far as to tell me that they would inbreed with Pacific salmon.


Well, that guy was from Arkansas. Its common. They even have sheep that talk.

Wanna back all that up with science there,big boy?