By Canadian Press

Canada’s fisheries department monitoring U.S. fish spill

Aug 23, 2017 | 8:30 PM

OTTAWA — Canada’s Fisheries Minister says officials are closely monitoring a spill of Atlantic salmon from an aquaculture facility off the coast of Washington state.

Dominic LeBlanc says in a statement that while the fish escaped from an American facility that is subject to U.S. law, the Canadian government is taking the incident seriously given how close it happened to B.C.

Washington state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has said an estimated 1,360 tonnes of Atlantic salmon were in the net when it imploded Saturday — a spill attributed to unusually high tides.

While it’s unclear how many escaped from the Cooke Aquaculture fish farm near Cypress Island, authorities have asked the public to help clean up by catching the fish.

LeBlanc says protecting Canada’s aquatic ecosystem is a priority, and that officials are communicating with the U.S. regulators and surveying the area to ensure any impacts from the incident are minimized.

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The ministry says past research suggests many of the escaped fish won’t adapt to the natural feeding practices needed for this ecosystem and are likely to be caught or preyed upon.

The Canadian Press