Report your catch of Atlantic salmon on-line | Download Data Sheet (38KB PDF) to print and mail

Atlantic salmon

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are escaping by the tens of thousands annually from commercial farming net pens, swimming as far afield as Alaskan rivers. Atlantic salmon are an aggressive species. Unlike Pacific salmon they are more likely to attack other species than their own in freshwater habitat. They compete most vigorously with steelhead. This may be one reason they are the only salmon in the Atlantic. Salmon biologists are concerned escaped farm Atlantic could harm wild Pacific salmon through disease transfer, competition, aggression and other mechanisms, without actually establishing a viable run themselves. The interplay between endemic salmon and trout is such delicate balanced throwing another species into the mix is biological roulette.

Raincoast Research documented over 10,000 escaped Atlantic salmon in the August 2000 commercial salmon fishery in and around the Broughton Archipelago. Some had consumed wild food. Government and industry claimed farm salmon would not: escape, feed, spawn or impact wild fish. They have been proven wrong on three out of four of these claims.

Inside a salmon's head are a pair of otoliths or ear bones. An expert can read otoliths like the rings of a tree. The fate of escaped farm salmon is recorded there, revealing how long the fish has been loose and how well it has fared. For this reason Raincoast Research is collecting Atlantic salmon for Dr. John Volpe of the University of Victoria. Please download the Atlantic salmon form if you are a fisherman and carry several in a baggy in your tackle box with a pencil. While the entire fish frozen is best, the head and a report is extremely useful. If you eat an escaped Atlantic cook at high heat to destroy bacteria and be careful of antibiotic residues, as there is no way of knowing how recently the fish may have undergone drug treatment.

"No spot" Atlantic salmon

Not all farm Atlantics have spots. While the "no spot Atlantic" looks surprisingly like a sockeye, it is the new-look domestic Atlantic salmon. The worn edges on the tail and dorsal fins identify it as a farmed Atlantic salmon. DNA work is underway to examine the lineage of these new designer fish.

Raincoast Research can provide field support for a small number of scientists and students interested in researching the impact of salmon farms. Contact us.

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