Well, I guess this lays to rest the opinion that I’ve been hearing in our Marine Resources Committee from one supposed ‘expert’ from industry that said, “don’t worry, they’ll starve to death quickly”. If this isn’t good enough information to call for an immediate ban on all net pens in the state waters I don’t know what will be.
More than three months after being released during the collapse of a fish farm near Cypress Island, Atlantic salmon are being caught about 40 miles up the Skagit River. “Virtually every time we have done work in the river we have encountered Atlantics along the way,” Upper Skagit Indian Tribe Natural Resources Director Scott Schuyler said. Since the Aug. 20 collapse, Schuyler said Upper Skagit fishermen and fisheries crews have caught the nonnative fish in Mount Vernon, near Lyman and east of Hamilton while pursuing native salmon. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)