Solar Eclipse May Have Helped 5K Salmon Escape

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.

Read the full story on Newser.com

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