SEATTLE, Wash. — Four environmental groups have filed suit against the state Department of Fish and Wildlife for issuing a permit to Cooke Aquaculture to raise steelhead in Skagit and Kitsap County waters.
The groups, including Wild Fish Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth, argue allowing steelhead farming in floating net pens would jeopardize the region’s wild population, salmon, and Southern Resident orcas.
Sophia Ressler, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Skagit Valley Herald that fish feedlots don’t belong in wild salmon waters, and they undermine the work done to restore native fish runs.
Cooke Aquaculture and Fish & Wildlife did not respond to requests for comment.