It could range to over a hundred thousand fish. Blomso said the fish are disease-free and do not pose a health threat to native salmon stocks. He also said the Atlantic salmon do not breed with local strains and are two years shy of sexual maturity anyway. But one conservationist is alarmed by the accident, fearing the freed fish will compete with already endangered Puget Sound salmon. The emergency move began Friday when Global discovered an algae bloom in waters close to the Atlantic salmon farm.
Algae compete with salmon for oxygen.
Global was forced to tow more than 60 nylon-mesh pens across Puget Sound to Vashon Island, but at least five pens broke open near Manchester. Each pen contained 5,000 to 100,000 fish weighing between one-quarter of a pound and 25 pounds, Blomso said. Pete Granger, executive director of the Washington Farmed Salmon Commission, said many of the salmon that escaped were juveniles incapable of spawning. By late afternoon yesterday, most of the pens had reached the west side of Vashon Island, Blomso said. He estimated that less than 5 percent of the farm's 2 million salmon had died.