NPR

Salmon Fisher: Spill Is Dangerous And 'We Shouldn't Have To Deal With It'

Commercial fisherman are putting off their own livelihoods to catch the farmed Atlantic salmon that broke out of their net pen in Washington state. One fisherman describes the "carnival atmosphere."
Aboard the fishing vessel Marathon, Nicholas Cooke (left) and Nathan Cultee unload 16 farm-raised Atlantic salmon into a container in Bellingham, Wash.

The state of Washington is calling all fishermen to catch unlimited farmed Atlantic salmon with no size or weight limits after a net pen broke last week, allowing thousands of the non-native fish to escape into the open ocean.

The pen, in the state's northwestern San Juan Islands, contained about 305,000 Atlantic salmon, and is owned by Cooke Aquaculture.

The says it is working with other state agencies, local Indian tribes and Cooke Aquaculture to discover an accurate timeline

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