SEATTLE, Wash. (AP) — Fish-farming company Cooke Aquaculture has agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle a Clean Water Act lawsuit following the collapse of one of its net-pens two years ago.
The Seattle Times reports that the settlement with the nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy would pay for legal fees and Puget Sound restoration projects.
It still needs the approval of a federal judge.
One of Cooke’s net-pens near Cypress Island collapsed in 2017, allowing more than 260,000 nonnative Atlantic salmon to escape.
Fears that they would survive and spread into Washington waters and threaten native salmon. did not materialize.
But the Legislature passed a law phasing out farming of Atlantic salmon in the state by 2025.