Here in the Pacific Northwest, salmon are a very big deal, integral to the economy and culture. This weekend, our Lummi Native fishermen discovered farmed Atlantic salmon in their territorial waters.
Environmental Nightmare
Commercial fishing boats are scrambling to catch as many Atlantic salmon as they can after a net pen broke near Washington's Cypress Island. Fishers reported thousands of the non-native fish jumping in the water or washing ashore.
Warren said his main concern is that Atlantic salmon could out-compete native Chinook salmon and steelhead for food and spawning grounds.
"The Atlantic salmon bring with them pollution, virus and parasite amplification, and all that harms Pacific salmon and our waters of Washington," Beardslee said.
Beardslee said this event should be of concern — especially because the same company, Cooke Aquaculture, is proposing a larger Atlantic salmon net pen in the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.
"The majority of our salmon migrate through the straits when they're leaving as juveniles. You start having a viral or parasitic outbreak there, when our juvenile fish are moving through — it could be a disaster," Beardslee said.
A disaster for the whole state
Swinomish fishermen caught farmed Atlantic salmon in the Skagit River on Wednesday night, as the fish continued to disperse through the Puget Sound, said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. He also received a report of an Atlantic salmon caught off Alki Point on Thursday afternoon.
The fish were thick at Lopez Island Thursday, where fishermen out for smelt instead hauled in Atlantic salmon, and the fish were jumping in bays and coves all around the island.
“These fish are headed to every river in Puget Sound,” Cladoosby said. “We have been saying all along it was not a question of if, but when, this would happen.
