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The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has approved an application from the Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture company to farm trout in Puget Sound net pens.
This includes four pens currently operating near Rich Passage and Skagit Bay, but may later extend to three other net pens owned by Cooke, said WDFW.
“This permit was approved based on scientific review and is contingent on Cooke complying with strict provisions designed to minimize any risk to native fish species,” said WDFW Deputy Director Amy Windrope.
“We heard from a huge number of stakeholders on this issue, and we appreciate everyone who took time to make their voice heard as part of this process,” she said. |
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Washington’s fish farms have operated in Puget Sound since the 1980s under an assortment of owners throughout the years. In 2016, Cooke Aquaculture Pacific purchased the farms, retained all its rural workforce and began investing to modernize the operations.
in 2017, the company faced some $332,000 in fines over water quality after hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped a Cooke net-pen structure.
Following the escapes, the Washington Legislature in March 2018 voted to phase out farming of non-native fish — including Atlantic salmon — in Washington waters.
This vote, described as an ‘emotional response by politicians’, was cast despite there being no example of the transfer of disease from farmed salmon to wild fish ever being documented by a regulatory agency in Washington. |
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