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Salmon Stage Mass Escape from B.C. Fish Farms by Associated Press Seattle Post-Intelligencer - January 8, 2002

VICTORIA, B.C. -- Thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped from two fish farms operated by Pacific National Aquaculture last week, both apparently because of storm damage, officials said.

The number of fish that got away Friday at McIntyre Bay in the Clayoquot Sound area remained undetermined Monday. Two days earlier, 8,000 escaped from a pen near Tofino after containment nets were swept onto rocks and torn in a storm.

Provincial Fisheries Minister John van Dongen said storm damage also appears to have caused the second escape. Pacific National may be penalized if investigators determine that the company violated provincial regulations, he said.

Environmentalists have often criticized the fish farm industry, saying escaped Atlantic salmon could endanger wild Pacific salmon stocks.