Non-native Atlantic Salmon Spread Throughout Salish Sea and Up Inland Rivers

Non-native Atlantic Salmon

Migrate to Fresh Water Rivers 

in Washington State

It's quite a spread that's been offered to over 160,000 mature non-native Atlantic salmon. 
The Department of Fish and Wildlife "catch map" shows that contrary to NOAA's Michael Rust that escaped non-native Atlantic salmon being "couch potatoes," and others saying they would not wander far from pens should they escape because they are "used to being fed", these non-native salmon are anything but that. Worse, they are now migrating up rivers in Washington into habitat used by native salmon, putting both habitat at risk and young native salmon at risk through being consumed by the non-native Atlantic salmon. These salmon are mature and ready to spawn.

"You look in pretty good shape to me."

"I've been fed omega 3's, antibiotics, 

and swam laps in the pen regularly."

And, they're mature, heading up Washington rivers.

Bad timing for fish to escape
People have claimed there is little to worry about habitat displacement as attempts to plant these non-native salmon in the past have failed, with no populations taking hold. The difference is in the past, young salmon were used, not mature salmon, ready to spawn, like those which escaped from the net pen on August 19. Those which escaped are laden with eggs, looking for a place to reproduce. As seen from the area they have spread out over the past 2 weeks, they are anything but "couch potatoes". These have become an invasive species, due directly to mis-management and to a lack of oversight by all agencies.

Get involved
Tell your elected officials it is time to remove these industrial scale operations from Washington's waters. The risk is not "presumptive", it is real.
Contact information for state and national elected officials may be found here:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Tell Governor Inslee if he really cares about Puget Sound, now is the time to stand up.
http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/contact/send-gov-inslee-e-message
Help support those who are focused on protecting the Salish Sea's diversity and health from these operations and lack of regulatory oversight:
Our Sound, Our Salmon
https://www.oursound-oursalmon.org/#home
Wildfish Conservancy
http://wildfishconservancy.org/
Center for Food Safety:
https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/#

Puget Sound Is Under Stress: Help Protect Native Species and Preserve and Restore Puget Sound

"Don’t buy the lies and bullying tactics of the industry spokesmen who sit on our local boards and collect their paychecks while trying to buy us off with a few clams, like their forefathers did with the Tribes over the centuries." Olympic Peninsula Environmental News

2/3 of killer whale pregnancies fail -

because of low availability 

of Chinook Salmon.

(Click here to read of Orca birth failures)

Our Sound, Our Salmon - Stop Net Pen Expansion in Puget Sound
While a fitting quote to why the intertidal tidelands are being allowed to be transformed into industrial facilities requiring little regulatory oversight, the above quote is in reference to another threat to Puget Sound: Salmon net pen farming. These large enclosed pens concentrate non-native salmon in densities so high that threats from disease and sea lice raise the risks to our native salmon, and the Orca who depend on them, to an unacceptable level. As with shellfish aquaculture, painting these operations as being nothing more than "farming" ignores the very real differences between terrestrial farming (on land) versus activities taking place in a marine ecosystem.

Washington is the only West Coast State to Allow Net Pen Farming

Alaska, Oregon and California have banned net pen farming. Our Sound, Our Salmon is now demanding that Governor Inslee stop following industry's lead and instead take a stand with those who believe there is more to Puget Sound than its ability to generate profits for corporations in the aquaculture industry. [Sign the petition here] They write:

"Puget Sound is our Sound. The salmon that swim in its waters are our salmon. They have been the lifeblood of our past, and they will be the lifeblood of our future.

"Cooke Aquaculture, an Atlantic salmon net pen conglomerate, is threatening the health of Puget Sound with their plans to further transform it into an epicenter of Atlantic salmon net pen production. We cannot risk putting our Sound, our salmon, and our future into the hands of an industry with a long history of negative environmental, social, and economic impacts - impacts that led California, Oregon, and Alaska to wisely ban this industry.
"It’s time for us to stand up for our Sound. It’s time for us to stand up for our salmon. And it’s time we stand up for our future by stopping the expansion of destructive Atlantic salmon net pens in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca." Our Sound, Our Salmon

Infected fish? Just dump them. After they've

been shedding virus for months.  

(From KING5)

Get involved and get educated

"In Puget Sound, the potential for catastrophic damage to wild fish populations as a result of Atlantic salmon net pens has already been demonstrated. In 2012, an outbreak of Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV) caused the death of over 1 million pounds of net pen salmon. Worse still, this outbreak occurred during the time of year juvenile salmonids are migrating out to sea through Puget Sound." (KING5 - see video clip of news here)

Land based systems exist.

"The quality of the fish is extraordinary, the taste is great,

the look of the fish is fantastic."

Ned Bell, Chef at Four Seasons Hotel, Vancouver BC

You don't need pesticides, antibiotics, nor Puget Sound's open waters

"Kuterra is proof positive that you can grow Atlantic salmon on land in a sustainable and economical way. If Washington wants to increase farmed salmon production, we should do it by helping pioneer a burgeoning, environmentally responsible industry of land-based systems like Kuterra." (See Vimeo clip of Kuterra's upland operation here) 

Upland operations, currently operating profitably, separate the "farmed environment from the wild environment." At the same time they also provide a product which is free from pesticides and antibiotics which most consumers do not believe should be in seafood they consume. (See public response when pesticides in Willapa Bay in 2015 were proposed by shellfish growers here) 

Genetics at its best.

Disease at its worst.

(from Hard Evidence, a short video clip

from Alexandra Morton)

Is this really what you want to be eating? 

"On August 23, 2016, Alexandra Norton put a GoPro on a pole and submerged it for ten minutes in a salmon net pen run by Marine Harvest. This video is a compilation of what she saw – large numbers of farmed salmon likely suffering from viruses and Atlantic salmon preying on juvenile wild fish." To get a sense of what the reality of "open net pen" salmon are, look at the short clip taken by Alexandra Morton when cruising on the Sea Shepherd in British Columbia. 

Get involved so future generations

are able to experience Puget Sound.

Photo: Heather MacIntyre/The Pacific Whale Watch

Get involved. Tell Governor Inslee there is far more to Puget Sound than the ability to make a profit from open water net pens growing non-native salmon. If you don't 

Sign the Our Sound, Our Salmon petition here:

https://www.oursound-oursalmon.org/sign-the-petition#petition

or, Email the Govenor directly:

https://fortress.wa.gov/es/governor/