[MG driver]

Reportedly, up to 305,000 escaped the Cedar Island net pen. Also reported that some have been caught in the sound by Lummi Nation fishermen and others independently identified in the Nooksack River.

Just what would the WDFW regulations be for these fish......................

 

[Stonefish]

Shore fishing only
Must release unclipped Atlantics
Season closes Sept 4th.
SF

 

[VIUcutthroat]

Shore fishing only
Must release unclipped Atlantics
Season closes Sept 4th.
SF

Is this an American sense of humour? You are kidding aren't you? None would be clipped ..... and I'd figure "screw the limit" when it comes to Atlantics. Mind you, I almost fainted when I found out that BC Fish and Wildlife put a limit of 20 on yellow perch in a few of the Vancouver Island lakes where they are not native. When I asked why, I was told the number was pulled out of thin air at a meeting.

 

[Chris Johnson]

Reportedly, up to 305,000 escaped the Cedar Island net pen. Also reported that some have been caught in the sound by Lummi Nation fishermen and others independently identified in the Nooksack River.

Just what would the WDFW regulations be for these fish......................

Where is the "Cedar Island net pen"?

 

[Chris Johnson]

Where is the "Cedar Island net pen"?

Cypress Island, west side of Bellingham channel.

 

[Chucker]

Wdfw says please go catch them. No limits on atlantics, but you do have to be legally licensed to fish for salmon.

Can't find a statement on their web page, but it will doubtless come out soon. The Seattle times is covering it.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...sherman-being-told-catch-as-many-as-you-want/

My experience of these things is that they can actually be hard to catch at times. They don't know what to do being out of their pen.

N.

 

[Blktailhunter]

 

[FerrousTortoise]

How would one catch an atlantic salmon in the salt? Although that is a long way to go to try to catch an atlantic salmon.

 

[Kfish]

Pellet flies?
It would be pretty cool to see someone here catches one. Atlantic salmon always have been a joke here when it comes to fish ID but this time... Why yes! it is an Atlantic salmon!
I nominate Stonefish for the challenge

 

[holtad]

Pellet flies?
It would be pretty cool to see someone here catches one. Atlantic salmon always have been a joke here when it comes to fish ID but this time... Why yes! it is an Atlantic salmon!
I nominate Stonefish for the challenge

Its the WFF Atlantic Salmon derby!

 

[wadin' boot]

We should have odds on who gets one first.

Personally I am gonna bet on a dark horse, Charles Sullivan, in his Bosox themed Salmon sled....

This would be, in my book, a really fun seaplane trip...

 

[Stonefish]

Is this an American sense of humour? You are kidding aren't you? None would be clipped ..... and I'd figure "screw the limit" when it comes to Atlantics. Mind you, I almost fainted when I found out that BC Fish and Wildlife put a limit of 20 on yellow perch in a few of the Vancouver Island lakes where they are not native. When I asked why, I was told the number was pulled out of thin air at a meeting.

Sorry, forgot to put one of these on that post.......
If you fished Puget Sound and WDFW managed your fisheries, you'd understand the gist of my post.
SF

 

[Smalma]

If anyone is serious about attempting in adding an Atlantic to your fish species list I would suggest focusing your efforts on a Puget Sound river.

Following the large Atlantic salmon escapement events in 1995, 1997, and 1999 we caught a fair number off those fish in north Puget Sound rivers. For reasons I don't understand most of those escaped salmon headed to rivers within days of obtaining their freedom from the net confines. In 1997 when 369,000 salmon escapement from two central sound net pens within a week there were reports of Atlantics in virtual all of the Puget Sound rivers from the Fraser to the Elwha. Like many hatchery reared fish those escapees were clumsy feeders but after a few weeks the survivors became more adapted and could be consistently caught on flies. We caught quite of few Atlantics while targeting sea-runs in the rivers during the fall. During the 1990s I personally caught Atlantics in the Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, north fork Stillaguamish and Skagit. When a 100,000 escapement from the Cyprus net pens in 1995 quite a few ended up in Skagit and Stillaguamish. While those closed to fishing this fall I would suggest the Nooksack or Snohomish for those seeking their first Atlantic.

We found that the Atlantics generally seemed to prefer slower water that steelhead and typically found in tail outs and in or around cover. They seemed to be especially fond of laying in front of stump or root wad. There they would be holding mid-water column in the little current cushion that typically forms in such cover. In short they were often found in typically sea-run cover. We caught most of our Atlantics on Knudsen spiders or October caddis patterns but then that is what I mostly fished.

A fun fish and as their Latin name suggests great leapers.

Curt

 

[skyrise]

I will look out for them. Dont normally keep fish but they need to be removed from our rivers. Cool to think that when I toss a bug for salters there could be a big eater laying in wait.

 

[cabezon]

For reasons I don't understand most of those escaped salmon headed to rivers within days of obtaining their freedom from the net confines.

Curt

Hi Curt,
In the wild, Atlantic salmon are fall spawners (October / November). As these fish have been exposed to a natural day-length cycle in the net pen and were near harvesting, I would not surprised if their reproductive condition was not at least "pre-spawn". Migrating into the nearest freshwater (the S rivers) makes sense.
Regarding the question of establishing themselves, I have my doubts. There are many more net pen operations in B.C. and they have had many more releases (I guess unexpectedly big tides happen there too). And there have been anecdotal reports of spawning pairs observed in Vancouver Island Rivers, but no river appears to have a self-sustaining population of Atlantics. If you look at the history of introduced species, some become established the first time they are deliberately or accidently introduced. Other species require repeated attempts before becoming established; why one of the attempts finally succeeded where others failed is a great questions. Other species (e.g., Atlantic lobsters on the West Coast, sea otters off Oregon) never become established even after multiple attempts.
Steve

 

[Milt Roe]

As I have mentioned before, biological influences such as the parasite Nanophyetus salmincola that native salmonids have evolved to tolerate are a strong inhibitor of non native species success in establishing populations. Brook trout have been introduced widely on the west side, but to my knowledge have never established robust populations in streams where the obligate snail host Juga is present. I suspect this or some other naturally occurring parasite may have a role in preventing atlantic salmon from successfully establishing populations in spite of humans many failures to prevent it from happening.

 

[Smalma]

Milt -
the escapees in the mid 1990s (events in 1995, 1997, and 1999) total nearly 600,000 fish. Most of the fish were in the 5 to 8 pound range. Over those years I cleaned/checked for maturity approximately 50 of them. More than 90% of the fish were immature fish; more than a year from spawning; undeveloped gonads and bright coloration. So again I don't know why those immature fish hit the rivers but they did.

Curt

 

[Porter]

Remember this from a few years ago?

Truth?

 

[Bob Triggs]

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

August 22, 2017
Contact: Michelle Dunlop, (360) 902-2255

WDFW encourages anglers to fish for escaped Atlantic salmon

OLYMPIA - State salmon managers are encouraging anglers to fish for thousands of Atlantic salmon that escaped recently from a salmon farm near the San Juan Islands.

Cooke Aquaculture notified the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) of a net pen failure on Aug. 19 that caused the release of Atlantic salmon from the Cypress Island location. About 305,000 salmon were in the net pen at the time, though the company initially estimated that only 4,000-5,000 fish have escaped. Cypress Island lies along Rosario Strait between Guemes and Blakely islands

"Our first concern, of course, is to protect native fish species," said Ron Warren, head of WDFW's Fish Program. "So we'd like to see as many of these escaped fish caught as possible."

Warren said there is no evidence that these fish pose a threat to native fish populations, either through disease or crossbreeding with Pacific salmon. To date, there is no record of Atlantic salmon successfully reproducing with Pacific salmon in Washington's waters, he said.

"It will be some time before we know how many fish escaped the net pens," Warren said. "That's why we've authorized Cooke Aquaculture to fish with beach seine nets and we're encouraging anglers to go out and harvest these fish."

The escaped fish are estimated to be eight to 10 pounds in size and are safe to eat.

There is no size or catch limit on Atlantic salmon. However, anglers may only fish for Atlantic salmon in marine waters that are already open to fishing for Pacific salmon or freshwater areas open for trout fishing. Anglers also must stop fishing for Atlantic salmon once they've caught their daily limit of Pacific salmon.

To help anglers identify Atlantic salmon, WDFW has posted a salmon identification guide on its webpage at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/atlantic.html

Anglers must have a current fishing license and must also observe gear regulations identified in the 2017-18 sport fishing rules pamphlet. Anglers do not have to report Atlantic salmon on their catch record cards.

WDFW shares management authority with the state Department of Agriculture for monitoring fish diseases. Other state departments, local governments and tribal governments have authority related to the siting of marine aquaculture and water quality.

Persons with disabilities who need to receive this information in an alternative format or who need reasonable accommodations to participate in WDFW-sponsored public meetings or other activities may contact Dolores Noyes by phone (360-902-2349), TTY (360-902-2207), or email ([email protected]). For more information, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/accessibility/reasonable_request.html.

This message has been sent to the WDFW Regulatory Information mailing list.
Visit the WDFW News Release Archive at: http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/

 

[junkie]

As I have mentioned before, biological influences such as the parasite Nanophyetus salmincola that native salmonids have evolved to tolerate are a strong inhibitor of non native species success in establishing populations. Brook trout have been introduced widely on the west side, but to my knowledge have never established robust populations in streams where the obligate snail host Juga is present. I suspect this or some other naturally occurring parasite may have a role in preventing atlantic salmon from successfully establishing populations in spite of humans many failures to prevent it from happening.

Hopefully you're right. But it happens enough times, something might stick.