OLYMPIA, Wash. — Cooke Aquaculture will soon be farming steelhead in Puget Sound waters.
The company faced significant backlash — and a hefty fine — after they allowed hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon to escape into the Sound when one of their net pens near Cypress Island collapsed in 2017
They are required to phase out the farming of non-native fish in Washington waters, so the company is transitioning to farming steelhead.
WDFW approved a five-year permit Tuesday, allowing Cooke Aquaculture to farm an all-female, sterile fish population in their existing net pens, including four currently operating near Skagit Bay.