8-31-2018
LA CONNER, Wash. — The fish farming company that allowed hundreds of thousands of non-native fish to escape into Puget Sound is restocking its pens with almost a million more salmon.
The Seattle Times reports Cooke Aquaculture is stocking farms near the mouth of the Skagit River and Bainbridge Island will 800,000 juvenile Atlantic Salmon.
A failure of Cooke’s facility near Cypress Island in August 2017 sent hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon into local waters.
While the state is phasing out Atlantic salmon farming in state waters, Cooke can continue to operate until 2025.
Meanwhile, testing by a native fish advocacy group found the escaped salmon were tainted with a virus common in Atlantic salmon.
It’s unclear if the virus is a threat to native fish.