If you are one of the many fishers who have caught escapee Atlantic salmon in Tasmania recently, scientists at Hobart's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies have some questions they'd like to ask.

The fish, in numbers estimated between 260,000 to as many as 600,000, were freed after wild weather hit southern Tasmania on May 11, with enclosures owned by salmon company Huon Aquaculture breaking away from their moorings near Bruny Island.

The captivity-bred Atlantic salmon are unlikely to last long in the wild. ( Supplied )

Scientists are keen to speak with people who may have caught any of the fugitive fish so they can work out how far they have travelled and how long they have survived.

"The other thing we're interested in is if any of the fishers have observations about the stomach contents, if they're feeding or not", said senior research scientist Dr Jeremy Lyle, adding his team wanted to understand any environmental impact the mass escape might have.

One recreational fisher told the ABC he had caught about 20 in a gill net over a couple of hours in Frederick Henry Bay, about 30 kilometres away from the fish farm location, two weeks after the escape.

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Farmed salmon are industrially hatched in captivity in their thousands and transferred to increasingly larger tanks before being put into open water pens that are fortified against predator attack.

Fed on factory-produced pellets, the farmed fish have not had to develop the skills to forage and hunt as wild fish do.

Dr Lyle said previous research suggests it to be unlikely the salmon would thrive after escaping and doubted there would be a long-term impact on the environment.

"If they're not surviving for very long, which is what we suspect, and if they're not effectively predating on native fauna, then the actual impacts are going to be very minor," he said.

Dr Lyle said acoustic tracking in Macquarie Harbour had proven the salmon could quickly travel quite long distances and posts on social media indicated there were "hotspots" of salmon population along the coast.

The salmon, which are not native to Tasmanian waters, were believed to have been between one and four kilograms at the time they escaped the pens, with Dr Lyle estimating "peak condition" fish could live up to three months on their body reserves.

The fisher who bagged salmon at Frederick Henry Bay said only a couple had any food in their system.

Dr Lyle said some fish caught after a previous escape on the west coast had been found to have consumed ear plugs and cigarette butts, both which have a similar appearance to their pellet food.

It was unlikely the fish would breed, he said, because "we (Tasmania) don't have the conditions they prefer for spawning".

All in all, the future for the salmon in the wild was bleak, Dr Lyle said, with whatever fish that managed to evade humans likely to fall prey to seals and sharks.

To take part, head to the IMAS survey webpage.