| The Great Salmon Escape | |
| By Amorina Kingdon |
Source: hakaimagazine |
9/1/2017 |
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Last week, more than 300,000 Atlantic salmon escaped from their floating farm into the Salish Sea, off Washington State, stoking the flames of a long-running dispute over the use of open-net pens. The state has already put a moratorium on new licenses for pens, while in British Columbia, First Nations have occupied a salmon farm near Alert Bay, demanding the fish farm operations move onto land. |
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Cooke Aquaculture, the company that owns the floating mesh cages that broke in Washington, blames the failure on unusually high tides stressing older equipment. But open-net pens have long been maligned by environmentalists. Critics charge that using open-net pens to raise fish increases the risk of diseases and non-native species mingling with wild populations. Industry representatives say the pens are safe—a stance supported by research. But there are known problems, such as outbreaks of pathogens like sea lice. |
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