Call it a fish for all.

Several thousand Atlantic salmon escaped from a fish farm near the San Juan Islands this week, prompting Washington Fish & Wildlife officials to plead for anglers to catch as many of the non-native species as possible.

A fish farm near Cypress Island, just east of the San Juans, told the state that its net system failed Aug. 19. An estimated 305,000 non-native Atlantic salmon were in the pen at the time, but the company said it estimated about 4,000 to 5,000 fish escaped into the waters of the Rosario Strait.

"Our first concern, of course, is to protect native fish species," Ron Warren, head of the state's fish program, said in a statement released Tuesday. "We'd like to see as many of these escaped fish caught as possible."

The fish weigh roughly eight to 10 pounds and are fine to eat. Fishing is restricted to areas already open for Pacific salmon or trout. But there's no size or limit on the Atlantic salmon, officials said. Anglers must have a valid Washington fishing license, too.

Members of the Lummi Nation tribal group told The Seattle Times the accident was a huge mistake. "It's a devastation," Ellie Kinley told the paper. "We don't want those fish preying on our baby salmon. And we don't want them getting up in the rivers."

Atlantic farmed salmon are a significant contributor to the global fish industry and appear on food menus across the country.

Officials are concerned the farm salmon will introduce diseases or compete with native fish for food and habitat.

Farms in the Pacific Northwest have been a growing concern for environmental groups. According to the Seattle Times, several large-scale farming escapes in the '90s resulted in hundreds of thousands of farm salmon swimming into Washington waters.

Atlantic salmon have large black spots on their gill cover, which native salmon and steelhead do not have. The farm fish will also potentially have damaged or eroded dorsal, ventral and tail fins from their captivity in nets. The state also posted a primer on how to identify the fish on its website.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen