Interactions of escaped farmed salmon and wild salmon in the Bay of Fundy region

Abstract The explosive growth of salmon farming in East Coast North America has led to concerns about the industry's environmental impact, especially on wild Atlantic salmon populations. There is evidence that escaped-farmed fish could negatively impact wild salmon through genetic introgression, introductioh of diseases and parasites, and ecological interactions. Reported escapes of farmed fish seem to result primarily from equipment failure during storms, and human,error. Industry interests and those of conservationists seem to coincide in that no one wants escapes, or diseases. The common interests should facilitate the development of mitigation strategies, but progress will have to be rapid to help severely depleted wild salmon populations.