Escaped Atlantic salmon reported 250 km north of collapsed fish farm

Escaped Atlantic salmon reported 250 km north of collapsed fish farm

Source: CBC News

9/13/2017

Escaped Atlantic salmon reported 250 km north of collapsed fish farm

Escaped farmed Atlantic salmon have swum as far as 250 kilometres north of Washington state's San Juan Islands, where they broke free from a ruptured pen last month containing an estimated 305,000 fish.

The non-native species of salmon have been reported as far north as Tofino on the west side of Vancouver Island and Campbell River on the island's east side, according to Byron Andres, head of the federal Atlantic Salmon Watch program.

"Quite a distance. I'm not sure whether we should be surprised by that but they have travelled further than I initially anticipated," Andres told Gregor Craigie, host of On the Island.

The Atlantic Salmon Watch program has been monitoring B.C. waters since 1991 and in that time has rarely logged confirmed sightings.

Between 2011 and 2017, there were only three confirmed reports of Atlantic salmon in B.C., with some appearing as far north as Hecate Strait and the Kitimat River. There had been zero reports in the three years leading up to the escape.