Atlantic salmon caught in

SE Alaska

Klas Stolpe

August 18, 2005.

First one shows up and then, before you know it, there goes the neighborhood… or the salmon spawning grounds in this case. Two Atlantic pen-raised, invasive-species salmon have been caught in the last week in the waters around Petersburg and Wrangell.

“I was hand trolling for Coho near the mouth of the Stikine,” local fisherman Ed Crain commented of his 4.69-pound Atlantic salmon caught last Tuesday near Woodpecker Cove from his 26-foot Olympic, the Sea Pearl. Crain has been hand trolling for five years and sport fishing all his life. “It was late afternoon, close to five. They are famous for being big fighters on the East coast but I didn’t notice any difference. It was on the bottom spread, I caught it on a hoochie. I noticed the black spots on it as I pulled it in. I thought something was wrong with it.”

Once on deck Crain noticed how long and thin it was and the blackish tail. An ID card that came from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game with Crain’s troll permit was sitting on the boat’s galley table and confirmed the fish’s notoriety.

“I didn’t think I would ever recognize one if I caught one,” Crain commented. “But this was very obvious it was different.”

Alaska has King, Coho, Sockeye, Chum, and Pink salmon runs.

“It’s a completely different species,” Alaska Department of Fish & Game Fisheries Biologist Jeff Rice said. Rice is the Port Sampling Supervisor for Petersburg and Wrangell. “This is a salmon from the Atlantic Ocean.”

The ADF&G track the occurrence of escaped Atlantic salmon from British Columbia fish farms into Alaskan waters because they are known to successfully spawn in the wild of southern British Columbia.

The ADG&G interviewed Crain and cut the salmon to get samples. They collected fork-length and weight, head and guts, then boxed and froze it and sent it to Ketchikan’s Port Sampler Bill Bale who communicates the information with Canada. Information determines if the salmon are achieving a reproductive state in our waters and determines their genetic strain along with feeding and growing patterns after Canadian salmon farm escape.

An Atlantic salmon may have several large dark spots on the gill plate, worn fins and squared tail from net pen rubbing, are similar to Coho salmon in color and texture but resemble a Steelhead in shape, have 8-12 anal fin rays (Coho 13-16, Chinook 13-19), large scales that flake off easily, and a possible significant hooked lower jaw.

“You don’t want to see one with a full tail, if at all,” Rice commented. “That means they are reproducing in the wild.”

According to compilations by a Juneau fisheries biologist one adult Atlantic salmon was captured in marine waters of Southeast in 2004, three in 2003, six in 2002, 35 in 2001, and 85 in 2000. A high of 155 were caught in 1998.

“One fish might seem small but it’s the tip of the iceberg,” commented Dale Kelley, Executive Director of the Alaska Troller’s Association. “Just because we’ve only caught a few doesn’t mean there aren’t more here. We’ve found them in our streams in Southeast and juveniles in Canadian streams. I’ve been working on this issue for years. What it shows us, quite obviously, is that they are unable to keep them in their pens down in Washington and B.C. We’ve worked extensively at times with the Canadians, trying to persuade their Canadian government to reinstitute the moratorium on fish farming which they lifted a few years ago and they have just permitted new farms down by our border. It’s pretty astounding to be an Alaskan fishing representative and to know that the Canadian government doesn’t care to hear you point of view, even though Atlantic salmon are showing up in your waters. Atlantic salmon are an aggressive fish by nature, they are actually trout and are multi-spawners, that is, they don’t spawn and die, they go back out. Do we even want to find out what the ramifications are if they take hold in some of our 25,000 spawning streams?”

The second Atlantic salmon this year was found in a sorting bin at Icicle Seafoods by employee Jose Gonzales on Saturday. It was unknown what boat, area, or date it was caught. If an Atlantic salmon is caught by commercial, subsistence, or recreational fishermen it should be chilled or frozen whole immediately. Note where it was caught, with what, and other important details. Call the toll free number 877-INVASIV or 877-468-2748 and bring it to a local ADF&G office.

“We’re going to have a taste test tonight,” Ed Crain laughed. “I’ll probably bake it. Maybe our wild waters have improved its taste a little.”