How big a problem are escaped farm salmon?
The Provincial government and the B.C. salmon farming industry are constantly striving to achieve “zero escapes.” On occasion, some salmon do escape from the containment nets, but with many more precautions in place, escapes are steadily declining. Since January 2002, there have been no major escape events reported – and all escaped fish must, by law, be reported. From time to time, fishers catch Atlantic salmon in their nets. Small numbers are also recovered in streams. Whenever possible, these fish are studied by the Atlantic Salmon Watch Program. A very small percentage of the wild-caught Atlantic salmon studied have had prey items in their stomach. In fact, survival of escaped farm fish is very poor – the vast majority of reported escaped Atlantic salmon never make it into commercial fishing nets, nor are they spotted in stream surveys, suggesting that escapees are very poorly adapted to the “wild” marine environment. Escaped farm salmon have been caught in small numbers by fisherm
