Killer salmon with an order of fries?

Maybe you thought farmed salmon was a responsible way to consume some tasty fish without threatening the environment? Staying away from over-fished wild species?

Well, some recent research in the Pacific Northwest is not encouraging. The farmed salmon in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans are Atlantic salmon. U.S. Forest Service research shows there is some threat of the farm salmon (PDF) getting loose, then spreading. They could become the next wild boar or rock pigeon, shoving their way into the environment and moving aside some at-risk native fish.

Well, step one: some farmed salmon have gotten loose. So far there've been sightings of escaped Atlantic salmon from Washington State north to Alaska but no self-sustaining population has yet been found. The conclusion of the researcher: keep alert to any escaped farm fish and don't let them get established in the wild in the Pacific.