The New Brunswick-based conservation group said it was the second year in a row — and the third time since 2017 — that escapees were removed from the Gaspereau River. The fish captured in Nova Scotia were being collected for a Fisheries Department hatchery, where populations of endangered Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon are maintained, the federation said.

The salmon federation cited studies over the past two decades indicating that when domesticated salmon breed with wild fish, their offspring are less fit, contributing to population decline.

A 2003 study published in a Royal Society journal found that farmed salmon in Ireland consistently showed lower freshwater and ocean survival compared to wild salmon and that hybrid salmon were weaker than wild salmon.