Eclipse’s high tides break net, dump Atlantic salmon in Pacific off Washington
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Members of the public in Washington state are being asked to help mop up a spill of Atlantic salmon from an imploded net holding 305,000 fish at a Cooke Aquaculture fish farm near Cypress Island.
Washington state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging the public to catch as many of the fish as possible after Lummi fishers out for chinook on Sunday near Samish were surprised to pull up the Atlantic salmon — escapees that turned up in their nets again on Monday.
The fish are about 4.5 kilograms each and the department is asking people to catch them with no limit on size or number.
No one knows yet how many escaped, but Ron Warren of Fish and Wildlife said the net had some 1,360 tonnes of fish in it when it imploded Saturday.