Dams bought for $24 Million to be destroyed - and 138,000 farmed salmon escape

News of Atlantic salmon can be good and bad in the same week.

The excitement of the largest salmon river dam removal in North American history continues to echo. John Holyoke of the Bangor Daily has an interesting recent column on the dams to come down on the Penobscot - and the positive aspects for anglers.
http://asf.ca/news.php?id=629

On the other hand, what do you do when 138,000 farmed Atlantic salmon escape? Apparently very little. Read more about the very latest of THREE recent cage failures.
http://www.asf.ca/news.php?id=631

Is the escape of interest? By Monday, articles had been carried by more than 50 news sources, including this article that ties it in with wild salmon numbers:
http://asf.ca/news.php?id=635

Aquaculture mismanagement is a trans-Atlantic affair. Last week, the Atlantic Salmon Trust in the UK accused the Scottish government of ineffective salmon aquaculture management that places wild salmon at risk, as noted in The Scotsman.
http://www.asf.ca/news.php?id=632

I'm sorry to ask what may be a silly question, but what makes the escape of farmed salmon so bad?

thanks,

Fish

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hugefish_80

I'm sorry to ask what may be a silly question, but what makes the escape of farmed salmon so bad?

thanks,

Fish

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Good question, I wondered the same thing. Here's one quick answer from the article:
"A major threat is that farmed fish will interbreed with wild salmon, producing weaker genetic strains of fish that are less likely to survive in the natural environment."

What makes them think that interbreeding (which is not a good term because, genetically, they are the same species) will result in weaker fish being born? It's been my experience that when a domestic breed mixes with a wild one, as in hogs, you get a very strong, and mean feral hog. Many times, domestic cattle have been bred to longhorns, to make the breed stronger.

I think the bad part of the this deal is the financial loss to the owners of the domestic fish. They will never recover those lost fish.