Thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon were accidentally released into the waters between Anacortes and the San Juan Islands, and officials are asking people to catch as many as possible. Tribal fishers, concerned about native salmon populations, call the accident “a devastation.” 
 
 It’s open season on Atlantic salmon as the public is urged to help mop up a salmon spill from a damaged net pen holding 305,000 fish at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm near Cypress Island. 
 
 Lummi fishers out for chinook on Sunday near Samish, south of Bellingham Bay, were shocked to pull up the spotted, silvery-sided Atlantic salmon — escapees that turned up in their nets again Monday. 
 
 The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is urging the public to catch as many of the fish as possible, with no limit on size or number. The fish are about 10 pounds each. No one knows how many escaped from the floating pen, but the net had some 3 million pounds of fish in it when it imploded about 4 p.m. Saturday, said Ron Warren, fish program assistant director for the WDFW. 
 
 Cooke, in an estimate to WDFW Monday, put the number of escaped fish at 4,000 to 5,000, according to Ron Warren, fish program assistant director for the WDFW. The department has been monitoring the situation and crafting a spill-response plan with Cooke, Warren said. 
 
 Anchor lines to the pens broke Saturday afternoon, and walkways for servicing the pens tipped, making it unsafe for employees even to get in the water and assess the scope of the spill, Warren said. 
 
 In a statement Tuesday morning, Cooke said, “exceptionally high tides and currents coinciding with this week’s solar eclipse” caused the damage. Cooke said the salmon escaped after a “structural failure” of a net pen. 
 
 “It appears that many fish are still contained within the nets,” Cooke said in the statement. “It will not be possible to confirm exact numbers of fish losses until harvesting is completed and an inventory of fish in the pens has been conducted.” 
 
 An aerial view of the net-pen structure taken by KIRO-TV shows widespread damage, which Warren, after viewing the video, called “severely compromised.” 
 
 The salmon escapes come as the company is considering a controversial net-pen operation in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Port Angeles, east of the Ediz Hook, Clallam County. 
 
 The company’s explanation met with disbelief from fishermen and environmental groups. “Part of the feed going to these salmon is chicken feed, but this is B.S.,” said Chris Wilke, executive director of Puget Soundkeeper, a nonprofit environmental group that opposes the company’s planned replacement and expansion of its existing operation. 
 
 “If they can’t be trusted in an accident like this how can they be trusted to tell the truth in the permitting process?” 
 
 The Wild Fish Conservancy, in a statement released Tuesday, noted that on July 27, one of three net pens in the Cypress Island location broke free from an anchor and needed emergency repairs. The statement said the pens should be built to withstand high tidal movements. 
 
 Nell Halse, vice president of communications for Cooke, stuck with the company’s statement in an interview later Tuesday. “We did have very high tides and it was coinciding with the eclipse. Tides and currents and tidal surges in the last weeks have been very strong. 
 
 “Our people are out there every day and that is what they have been seeing. The tides were extremely high, the current 3.5 knots. People can believe it or not.” 
 
 The fish were soon due to be harvested and Cooke had intended to replace equipment at the site to strengthen it, but was awaiting permits, she added. 
 
 She dismissed any environmental concern, saying the fish would not survive and that native fish were not at risk. “It’s primarily a business loss. The salmon will be food for the seals and the fishermen can enjoy them.” 
 
 Atlantic salmon are a nonnative species to the Pacific Northwest. Between 1951 and 1991, state fishery officials tried to introduce the fish in the region by releasing — on 27 occasions — young smolts into Puget Sound. Those efforts were unsuccessful. 
 
 Atlantic salmon also are a mainstay of the global salmon-farming industry, which has expanded in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, in Washington state. And in the 1990s, the Pacific Northwest industry repeatedly had large-scale escapes, with some 600,000 Atlantic salmon finding their way out of Washington state net pens between 1996 and 1999, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric technical memorandum. 
 
 Salmon farming amid the region’s thriving wild salmon fisheries has been fraught with controversy, with concerns that Atlantic salmon could escape and cause harm to native runs. Alaska went so far as to ban salmon farming in coastal waters. 
 
 But Michael Rust, a NOAA researcher who co-authored the technical memorandum, said the risk of farmed Atlantic salmon passing diseases on to wild fish is low. And, over the years, he says, they have not been able to interbreed with Northwest native species or successfully establish themselves in the wild over multiple generations. 
 
 They are more likely to be prey than predators, Rust said. “These things are kind of couch potatoes. They are domesticated. Imagine a dairy cow getting lost out in the Serengeti. It doesn’t last very long.” 
 
 But plenty of fishers and environmentalists continue to have big concerns about salmon farming. 
 
 Lummi fishers were incensed at the Atlantic salmon intruding in home waters of native Washington Pacific salmon. “It’s a devastation,” said Ellie Kinley, whose family has fished Puget Sound for generations. “We don’t want those fish preying on our baby salmon. And we don’t want them getting up in the rivers.” 
 
 “I wouldn’t call them healthy. They have weird little deformations on their faces,” said Lucas Kinley, who for the past two days has caught a few of these fish as he set out a seine net for wild Northwest salmon. 
 
 G.I. James, a member of the Lummi Natural Resources staff and fish commission, said Pacific salmon face enough trouble as it is without dueling with invaders in their home waters. “It is potentially a disease issue, and impact on our fish, as dire a shape as they are in, right now any impact to them is difficult to absorb.” 
 
 Warren, of the WDFW, also is concerned about potential impacts on wild stocks. 
 
 The department is urging recreational fishers to get as many of the Atlantic salmon as possible. A valid fishing license is needed, but the fish don’t need to be recorded on fish tickets and there are no bag limits. Buyers may also legally buy the Atlantics from commercial and tribal fishers, Warren said. 
 
 “Catch as many as you want,” he said. “We don’t want anything competing with our natural populations. We have never seen a successful crossbreeding with Atlantic salmon, but we don’t want to test the theory.” 
 
 He said the fish were placed in the pens in May 2016 and treated for yellow mouth, a bacterial infection, in July 2016. He said the fish that escaped are believed to be healthy and disease-free. “We have no concerns about disease at this point.” 
 
 Penalties for the escape are being evaluated, Warren said. ||||| It was a convenient explanation. 
 
 Officials said the eclipse brought on high tides around Cypress Island, off Washington state – and that’s why thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon managed to free themselves from their floating net pens in Puget Sound. 
 
 It turns out that explanation doesn’t hold water. 
 
 That’s because the tides around Cypress Island, where the pens are located, were not abnormally high on Saturday, when the pens collapsed. Tide tables show that the island had higher tides every month this year than the 7.9-foot tide predicted to reach the island about 5 p.m. on Saturday. 
 
 The escape of so many Atlantic salmon is an “environmental nightmare,” said Kurt Beardslee, director of the Wild Fish Conservancy Northwest. 
 
 “The Atlantic salmon bring with them pollution, virus and parasite amplification, and all that harms Pacific salmon and our waters of Washington,” Beardslee said. 
 
 An unlikely excuse 
 
 The pen holding the fish failed Saturday afternoon after an anchor pulled loose and metal walkways twisted. 
 
 “Our understanding is with the solar eclipse came some pretty severe tidal exchanges, and within the San Juan Islands themselves, those currents are pretty strong at times,” Ron Warren, the department’s assistant director, told KUOW’s The Record. 
 
 Cooke Aquaculture, which owns the fish farm, said in a statement to the Seattle Times that “exceptionally high tides and currents coinciding with this week’s solar eclipse” caused the damage. 
 
 Tides are driven by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, yet around Cypress Island they were not abnormally high on Saturday. 
 
 Tidal-gauge data kept by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the San Juan Islands show high tide was actually 3 inches below the tide-table forecast for Saturday afternoon. The year’s highest tides, in January, had reached more than a foot higher. 
 
 The tidal current off the southeast shore of Cypress Island, where the net pens sit, was about 1 mile an hour at the time of the spill, according to the nautical site DeepZoom. It had reached nearly 4 miles an hour around dawn on Saturday. 
 
 “I fish up there — that's nothing unusual in that area,” Chase Gunnell with Seattle-based Conservation Northwest said. 
 
 In fact, the channel off Cypress Island had stronger currents at least once every month of 2017 than it did Saturday, according to DeepZoom. 
 
 Saturday was a calm day as well: Winds in nearby Anacortes never exceeded 6 miles an hour that day, according to the National Weather Service. 
 
 Since the spill, commercial fishing boats have scrambled to catch Atlantic salmon. Fishers reported thousands of the non-native fish jumping in the water or washing ashore. 
 
 ‘Environmental nightmare’ 
 
 Warren said his main concern is that Atlantic salmon could out-compete native chinook salmon and steelhead for food and spawning grounds. 
 
 Kurt Beardslee of the Wild Fish Conservancy Northwest said this event should be of concern — especially as the same company, Cooke Aquaculture, is proposing a larger Atlantic salmon net pen in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 
 
 “The majority of our salmon migrate through the straits when they’re leaving as juveniles. You start having a viral or parasitic outbreak there, when our juvenile fish are moving through — it could be a disaster,” Beardslee said. 
 
 Beardslee rode around Point Williams Tuesday afternoon collecting Atlantic salmon from commercial fishers. 
 
 Lummi Nation leaders worry that all this fishing could end up hurting endangered chinook salmon. 
 
 “[Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife] has encouraged recreational harvesters to catch as many as they can, but what does that mean to the other species? The chinook?” said Elden Hillaire, Lummi Nation Natural Resources Commission chairman. 
 
 The state posted an identification guide to help fishers distinguish Atlantic salmon from native Pacific salmon species. 
 
 Hillaire said Lummi fishers had reported catching Atlantic salmon from Bellingham Bay down to Samish Island. 
 
 He said this isn’t the first time the tribe has dealt with fish farm escapees. 
 
 “We had an escapement a decade or more ago where we actually had them caught in the [Nooksack] River as well,” Hillaire said. 
 
 He said there should be a backup system and better alerts for when farmed fish get loose. 
 
 Penalties for the fish farm are still being evaluated. 
 
 Phone calls to Cooke Aquaculture, a Canadian company with salmon farms on three continents, were not returned. While Cooke just purchased the Cypress Island salmon farm last year, the company is no stranger to tides. It is headquartered in the province of New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy, home to the world’s biggest tides. ||||| A net pen holding 305,000 fish imploded at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm on Monday. Photo: Wild Fish Conservancy. 
 
 BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Did Monday's eclipse play a role in a huge Atlantic salmon spill from a fish farm in the San Juans? The company says yes. Environmentalists say no. 
 
 The public is being asked to help mop up a salmon spill from an imploded net holding 305,000 fish at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm near Cypress Island. 
 
 Lummi fishers out for chinook on Sunday near Samish, south of Bellingham Bay, were surprised to pull up the Atlantic salmon - escapees that turned up in their nets again on Monday. 
 
 The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging the public to catch as many of the fish as possible, with no limit on size or number. The fish are about 10 pounds each. No one will know how many escaped until harvesting is completed. 
 
 Longtime fish conservationist Pete Knutson, owner of Loki Fish Company, says that's not the way to do it. 
 
 "If they want to get these out of the water, they should be contracting with the tribal or commercial fisherman. Saying, 'Go out and catch all you can' is irresponsible. It's not controlled, and there's no way to know the impact on other species. If you're seriously going to remove these, you contract with commercial fishermen and remove these," Knutson said. 
 
 Ron Warren, fish program assistant director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the net had some 3 million pounds of fish in it when it imploded Saturday, and the department says Cooke Aquaculture estimates between 4,000 and 5,000 fish got out and is working to repair their nets. 
 
 Warren said the spill was caused by tides pushed unusually high by Monday's approaching total solar eclipse. 
 
 Cooke said high tides mixed with strong currents of "up to 3.5-knot currents" impacted the incident. Cooke's observation of the currents was "based on the experience of the people on site." 
 
 But the environmental group Wild Fish Conservancy has been protesting these farms for some time and said it's not buying the company's explanation. 
 
 “They had the same issues a month ago, and they had to have crews come from the east coast and to fix these net pens,” Marine Affairs Specialist Molly Ogren said. 
 
 Cooke says there were strong tides in July as well but said they have been growing fish successfully there for 30 years and have not had ongoing issues. 
 
 The Wild Fish Conservancy doesn't agree, because “the external cost of operating in the water is not just on the Atlantic Salmon it's on the natural environment, as well.” 
 
 The department has been monitoring the situation and crafting a spill-response plan with Cooke. 
 
 “Our focus is on the safety of our people, securing the farm facilities, and protecting the environment we work within,” Cooke Aquaculture said in a statement. “Farm crews are on site, working to stabilize the farm and to recover as many fish as possible, when conditions permit. The health and safety of our employees continues to be our priority and we will wait for tidal conditions to improve before we send divers into the farm to do a full assessment.” 
 
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 Environmental groups don’t see it that way. 
 
 “They really are like an invasive species,” said Wild Fish Conservancy biologist Nick Gayeski. 
 
 Gayeski is concerned about the spawning of native fish and their feeding. 
 
 “They're going to be looking for fresh water at some point as they age, but in the meantime, they're looking for food, so they're out there competing with our native salmon,” Gayeski said. 
 
 The group has already heard from a local fisherman who posted pictures of the salmon they caught on their Facebook page. 
 
 Knutson has another concern. 
 
 "Aquaculture fish are commonly treated with antibiotics and pesticides are used to combat sea lice infestations. Normally those fish go through a withdrawal period if they've been treated with drugs. Has the state verified or checked on contaminants involved?" Knutson said. 
 
 NOAA is also involved in the cleanup and says their research shows farm-raised fish usually stay near the nets. Mike Rust, science advisor with the Office of Aquaculture, said their research shows farm-raised fish don’t do well outside the nets. 
 
 “Those fish that escape are much more likely to be prey than they are to be predator,” he said. 
 
 A Lummi fisherman has reported finding one in the Nooksack river, but NOAA says in the past native salmon have proven stronger than most escapees. 
 
 “Their ability to compete really goes down quickly,” he said. “Farmed Atlantic that have been domesticated would be like a dairy cow competing with a gazelle on the Serengeti, it's just not going to be significant.” 
 
 Rust says he believes people need to give more consideration to farm-raised fish and says the U.S. doesn’t utilize farmed fish nearly as much as some other countries. 
 
 “People should educate themselves and learn more, because when you line it up it’s not a bad way to make animal protein,” he said. 
 
 Cooke Aquaculture has applied to expand its operation in Puget Sound waters. It's something environmental groups continue to fight and point to incidents like this as the reason why. A protest is planned on September 16 near Bainbridge Island. 
 
 KING 5's Alison Morrow and Travis Pittman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
 
 © 2017 KING-TV
– In what one conservationist is calling an "environmental nightmare," an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 Atlantic salmon busted out of their holding pen over the weekend after a net broke, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is now pleading with locals to help catch as many as they can. Cooke Aquaculture's net pen was holding around 305,000 farmed salmon when anchor lines to the pen gave way and service walkways tipped on Saturday, reports the Seattle Times. The WDFW is now asking for the public's help in scooping the escaped fish out of the waters near Cypress Island (or wherever they may turn up), with no size or quantity restrictions. The exodus has environmentalists concerned, as they're afraid the farmed escapees could take over the feeding and spawning grounds of native chinook and steelhead salmon and pass on disease, KUOW notes. Cooke says in a statement that "exceptionally high tides and currents coinciding with this week's solar eclipse" contributed to the "structural failure" that led to the salmon's breakout. But environmentalists are pushing back on that, KING 5 notes, with one organization claiming Cooke had the same net issue earlier this summer. KUOW also reports that tide tables and current and wind speed numbers weren't unusually high on Saturday. A Cooke spokeswoman doubled down on the eclipse explainer late Tuesday, and she also added that the escaped salmon weren't a threat to native fish because they wouldn't survive. "It's primarily a business loss," she tells the Times. The salmon, which weigh about 10 pounds each, "will be food for the seals and the fishermen can enjoy them." (Is California's salmon population in big trouble?)