OLYMPIA, Wash. — A Canadian fish farming company is a step closer to once again operating in Puget Sound waters, but must stick with a native species under new rules.
The state Department of Ecology has updated the water quality permit for Cooke Aquaculture that will allow the company to farm native steelhead in pens near La Conner and Bainbridge Island.
The farmed fish must be sterile females and the company has to maintain strict measures to prevent escapes.
The state banned Cooke from raising non-native Atlantic salmon in local waters after its net pen near Cypress Island collapsed in 2017, releasing more than a quarter million farmed fish into Puget Sound.