A7
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2019
Beau Garreau
Atlantic salmon escaped the Cooke Aquaculture net pen off Cypress Island in 2017.
Cook Aquaculture will pay $2.75M
over 2017 salmon net pen collapse
By EVAN BUSH
Seattle Times
Cooke Aquaculture has reached a settle-
ment to pay $2.75 million in legal fees and
to fund Puget Sound restoration projects,
putting an end to a Clean Water Act lawsuit
that followed the 2017 collapse of one of the
fi sh-farming company’s net pen structures.
The nonprofi t Wild Fish Conservancy, an
advocacy group that opposes fi sh farming
in open water, initiated its lawsuit against
Cooke in August 2017, about a week after
a Cooke net pen near Cypress Island col-
lapsed. Washington state regulators would
later say the company’s negligence led to
the collapse and determined that as many as
263,000 Atlantic salmon escaped the fl oating
cage structure and into Puget Sound. Fears
did not materialize that the escaped salmon
would survive and spread in Washington
waters long-term. Some were concerned
they could be a threat to native salmon.
The legal settlement, which awaits fed-
eral offi cials’ review and a judge’s signature,
bookends a contentious and litigious chap-
ter in the fi ght over fi sh farming in Wash-
ington waters that resulted in the termination
of some of Cooke’s leases, a $332,000 fi ne
to Cooke from state regulators and a ban on
farming nonnative fi sh like Atlantic salmon
that state lawmakers passed last year. Mean-
while, Cooke seeks to open a new chap-
ter with its recent proposal to farm native
steelhead.
The settlement Wednesday follows a U.S.
District judge’s ruling earlier in the week
that Cooke had failed to inspect some moor-
ing components at several of its fi sh farms,
did not complete required inspection forms
at some sites and did not properly track the
number of fi sh in its net pens or report all
escapes as recently as 2018.
About $1.6 million from the settlement is
slated to pay the Wild Fish Conservancy’s
legal fees, according to a court settlement
document. The other $1.15 million would
go to the Rose Foundation for Communities
and the Environment, an Oakland, Califor-
nia-based nonprofi t, for projects to improve
Puget Sound water quality and aquatic hab-
itat. The Rose Foundation often manages
grants after court settlements, according to
its website.
The Wild Fish Conservancy brought the
lawsuit under a provision of the Clean Water
Act that allows for citizens or groups to fi le
lawsuits to enforce federal environmental
laws, regulations and permits.
The Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife in October proposed to issue Cooke
a fi ve-year aquaculture permit to farm steel-
head. Public comment on the proposal
closed on Nov. 22.
Kurt Beardslee, executive director of the
Wild Fish Conservancy, said Wednesday’s
settlement “reminds the public and Legisla-
ture of the high level of risk this industry has
no matter what species it’s raising.”
Beardslee has called for a more thorough
environmental review process by the fi sh
and wildlife department.
The settlement, if approved by the judge,
puts Cooke under a consent decree and
requires the company to perform load anal-
yses before putting new fi sh in its cages;
complete upgrades to its infrastructure; and
send permitting correspondence between the
company and state regulators to the fi sh con-
servancy directly.
Beardslee said the measures would help
the Wild Fish Conservancy “immensely”
with the advocacy group’s “oversight” of
Cooke.
“We think the public needs to know
what’s happening and this is just a vehicle
for the public to have access to understand
what’s happening,” he said.
Cooke said in a statement Friday it had
planned upgrades before the collapse.
“Three years ago, when Cooke acquired
the existing 30 year old net pen facilities
from a previous owner, we planned to add
signifi cant investments on top of the $75-
plus million contribution we made to Wash-
ington’s economy when we purchased the
company. In fact, our permits to replace the
Cypress salmon cages were sitting with reg-
ulators at the time of the unfortunate inci-
dent,” said Joel Richardson, Cooke’s vice
president of public relations in an email.
Richardson added: “Cooke Aquaculture
Pacifi c LLC has now reached an agreement
to the satisfaction of both parties and we
are working with the Jamestown S’Klallam
Tribe to shift from rearing Atlantic salmon to
Northwest native, sterile triploid, all-female
rainbow trout.”
Triploid fi sh eggs are forced to retain a
third set of chromosomes, which makes
almost all of the fi sh sterile as adults. Rain-
bow trout and steelhead are classifi ed as the
same species. Steelhead migrate out to sea,
where they can grow larger.
The Washington Department of Natural
Resources terminated the company’s lease
near Port Angeles in December 2017. The
company wants the lease reinstated for its
project with the tribe and has challenged the
department’s decision in Thurston County
Superior Court.
Cooke plans to replace Atlantic salmon
with steelhead at its other Salish Sea leases.
State fi sh and wildlife offi cials have said
risks of captive steelhead to trout stocks in
the natural environment — the spread of
viruses, escapement and escaped fi sh inter-
breeding with wild or hatchery fi sh — are
low and could be largely mitigated with
measures required by the agency.
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Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
51 41
51 42
54 44
53 43
51 40
Cloudy, a little
Periods of sun Rain and drizzle A touch of rain
rain
Rain
51 37
Low clouds
52 37
Chance of rain
Aberdeen
Olympia
50/43
51/45
Wenatchee
Tacoma
Moses
Lake
50/41
ALMANAC
UNDER THE SKY
TODAY'S TIDES
Astoria through Sunday
Tonight’s Sky: Cassiopeia is
nearly directly overhead before
midnight.
Astoria / Port Docks
Temperatures
High/low ................................ 44/33
Normal high/low .................. 50/38
Record high .................. 62 in 1958
Record low .................... 22 in 1985
Precipitation
Sunday ..................................... 0.38”
Month to date ........................ 0.38”
Normal month to date ......... 0.36”
Year to date .......................... 41.33”
Normal year to date ........... 57.73”
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Time
High (ft.) Time Low (ft.)
6:32 a.m.
5:37 p.m.
7.0 12:16 p.m. 3.7
6.5
none
Cape Disappointment
6:17 a.m.
5:15 p.m.
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Hammond
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today .................. 7:39 a.m.
Sunset tonight ............... 4:31 p.m.
Moonrise today ............. 1:04 p.m.
Moonset today ............ 11:36 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
6:23 a.m.
5:29 p.m.
Warrenton
6:27 a.m.
5:32 p.m.
Knappa
7:09 a.m.
6:14 p.m.
Depoe Bay
Dec 3 Dec 11 Dec 18 Dec 25
5:36 a.m.
4:30 p.m.
6.6 11:46 a.m. 3.8
6.2 11:55 p.m. 1.3
7.2 11:59 a.m. 4.0
6.7
none
7.4 12:00 p.m. 3.8
6.9
none
7.3 12:43 a.m. 0.9
6.8 1:17 p.m. 3.2
7.2 11:13 a.m. 4.3
6.7 11:24 p.m. 1.5
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
Phoenix
San Francisco
Wash., DC
Wed.
Hi/Lo/W
51/38/s
37/27/sn
40/29/pc
68/40/s
47/28/pc
84/73/pc
69/47/s
67/55/c
70/54/s
39/31/s
70/55/pc
60/51/r
50/37/s
60/40/s
40/31/pc
39/28/pc
64/47/pc
44/26/c
84/73/sh
72/52/pc
62/52/r
76/55/s
42/33/pc
67/52/r
59/50/sh
50/36/pc
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy,
c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
37/32
Hermiston
The Dalles 39/27
Enterprise
Pendleton 39/29
43/30
39/30
La Grande
40/32
46/36
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Hi/Lo/W
38/33
Kennewick Walla Walla
37/28 Lewiston
38/29
48/41
Salem
Pullman
38/26
Longview
51/41 Portland
47/40
37/30
Yakima 36/28
48/40
Astoria
Spokane
34/28
Corvallis
45/33
Albany
46/35
John Day
Eugene
Bend
47/33
40/30
42/33
Ontario
39/32
Caldwell
Burns
37/21
40/31
Medford
52/32
Klamath Falls
45/27
City
Baker City
Brookings
Ilwaco
Newberg
Newport
Today
Hi/Lo/W
37/27/pc
56/42/pc
50/43/pc
45/36/pc
53/41/pc
Wed.
Hi/Lo/W
38/27/pc
54/47/c
50/44/r
46/39/c
52/44/c
City
North Bend
Roseburg
Seaside
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Today
Hi/Lo/W
55/41/pc
51/38/pc
51/43/pc
50/36/pc
46/39/pc
Wed.
Hi/Lo/W
54/43/c
53/42/c
51/44/r
50/42/c
47/41/c