quote:Originally posted by gimp
That is a good question. On the ground facility that they were raised at where did the water come from was it froma certian river? If so how far away was the net pen from the river that the water was taken from to raise them. If they dont find a river to spawn in yes they will die but how many fry will 30,000 14 to 15 lb alantics eat before they die. And if they get into the river how many pacific salmon will they displace when it comes to spawning. How may alantic fry will be compeating for nutrients in the river after they hatch. Bottom line Pacific Salmon belong in Pacific, Alantic Salmon belong in the Alantic. We dont know the answers to alot of the questions but I am not willing to want to find out at the expence of our wild Pacific salmon populations.
If that Atlantic does get eaten by a bear or sea Lion (Awsome)
if the Alantic hasnt eaten 15 to 100 or more pink or chum or coho or chinook fry. If he is getting eaten by a bear he most likely found his river and is headed to spawn or has spawned and how many potential pacifics could have been displaced by that one spawning Alantic. Sadly its not a One for one deal
quote:Originally posted by sockeyefry
Gimp,
Mostly when they find escaped farmed salmon, they are not found with any prey in their stomachs. Mostly it is bits of wood etc... the theory is that they are so used to the feed pellets, that that is what represents feed to them, hence the bits of wood.
In addition, atlantics are not as easy to sea ranch as pacifics. They have a much lower % of return. There was an experiment in Maine in the 70's where they were able to sea ranch Coho in the atlantic, but were unable to get much of a return from the atlantics. Same thing is happening in the Great Lakes, where there are established populations of Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead, but the Atlantics which were part of the same stocking efforts did not.
I agree that if this accident is found to be due to negligence then the company should pay a heavy fine, and or be made to do some restoration work to compensate.