PORTLAND (AP) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has loosened the definition for North American salmon, allowing three Maine aquaculture operations to continue stocking fish while complying with a court order.

Federal fisheries biologists responded after learning the genetic criteria was so strict that some of their own fish samples failed to pass muster.

The new protocols mean fish from Canadian hatcheries that previously failed would now make the grade, Pat Scida, regional endangered species coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said Wednesday.

The announcement is good news because it means salmon-farming operations in Maine can continue stocking salmon in their ocean pens.

But Steve Page, who is the environmental compliance officer for Atlantic Salmon of Maine, didn’t sound happy Wednesday.

That’s because the announcement came too late to prevent the company’s decision to close two hatcheries.

And it came too late to save the slaughter of 1 million fish that might have been spared under the new guidelines.

Atlantic Salmon of Maine, which announced the hatchery closings last month, had been warning for years of what it considered to be flawed genetic protocols used to define what’s native salmon and what’s not, Page said.

“Unfortunately, it took the announcement of our hatchery closings to shine the light of day on this flawed protocol,” he said. “By that point, we had destroyed more than 1 million fish that might have passed.”

Federal biologists set high genetic standards for farmed fish because they could escape from their pens and dilute the genetic purity of wild salmon, which were placed on the federal endangered species list in November 2000.

Aquaculture companies were supposed to be phasing in the new standards. But U.S. District Judge Gene Carter ordered Atlantic Salmon and Stolt Seafood last May to stop stocking non-North American salmon immediately.

Last month, Atlantic Salmon of Maine disclosed while announcing the closing of its hatcheries that it had turned to Canadian hatcheries for smolt and that those fish failed to pass muster, as well.

That raised the specter of salmon operations being unable to stock fish in their ocean pens in Maine waters.

The doomsday scenario has gone away, but Scida said the federal standards are still tough. All fish must meet the new standards; failure of one fish to measure up means an entire lot must be rejected, he said.

“In the end, the test is slightly less stringent,” Scida said. “But at the same time, it’s a zero tolerance test.”

Andy Goode of the Atlantic Salmon Federation said he’s satisfied. “We think that the standards that the federal agencies are using are sufficiently protective of Atlantic salmon,” he said.

AP-ES-10-22-03 1701EDT