What is the problem of Atlantic salmon escaping into Pacific Ocean?
The biggest ecological problem that escaped farmed Atlantic salmon pose on the West Coast to wild salmon is competing directly with steelhead, which is one of the wild salmon species. And steelhead populations are in decline, many have gone extinct; they are in trouble up and down the entire West Coast. Then what’s the problem with farming Pacific salmon? The main danger there would be that if they have large numbers of escapees and they don’t come from the same gene pool as the wild fish, they will be able to directly interbreed with the wild Chinook salmon populations and alter their genetic makeup in such a way that those wild populations won’t be as well adapted to the natural environment. And again, wild salmon populations, as almost all species, are in decline and we don’t want to add insult to injury. Their genetic makeup, the current genetic diversities are sort of an insurance policy against further changes in the environment. It maximizes the chances that they’ll be able to a
