Cooke Gets Permit to Move 1 Million Smolts to Puget Sound Net Pens Despite Plea by Gov. Inslee
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton October 4, 2017
Cooke Aquaculture, the company that bought Icicle’s Atlantic Salmon farming business, has secured a permit to move 1 million 2nd year smolts from its hatchery in Rochester, Washington to a net pen site in Puget Sound. The fish had grown to the point where they had to be transferred to salt water.
The Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and other state agencies tried every legal means to block the transfer, but ultimately could not find a reason to deny a routine fish movement permit.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee had requested Cooke withdraw the permit application while the massive escape from their Cypress Island net pens was still being investigated. Cooke refused to delay its transfer of the fish.
In unusually strong language, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Dept. said they issued the permit only after working
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