Activists Release 60,000 Salmon.

The FBI has launched an investigation into what could possibly be the single largest animal liberation action in US history.

In two separate incidents at the same San Francisco Bay fish hatchery, activists clipped the zip ties holding a net confining 60,000 young salmon. The fish hatchery was raising salmon for a reintroduction project managed by area youth from a pro-fishing organization called the Tiburon Salmon Institute. The institute seeks to propagate San Francisco Bay marine life in hopes that they can be caught and killed later for sport.

Along with teaching kids to raise fish, release them, and hunt them down, the institute is also working on a marine science center. At the center, kids will be able to come learn about “sustainable fishing” and get a chance to “dissect marine mammals.” Wow! Who needs Disneyland?

Tiburon’s hatcheries are tiny cramped underwater nets where disease can run rampant and even spread to fish. In this particular facility, the 60,000 salmon were contained in a 16-by-25-by-8 foot enclosure. That gives each salmon about 6 inches of water each, prime conditions for deadly parasites that can attack a fish and eat their face down to the bone.

Beyond being in better living conditions, maybe now the young fish have a chance to hide before the Tiburon Salmon Institute kids come looking for them, rod and reel in hand.