Cooke Pacific fined $8,000 for water pollution
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific has been fined $8,000 by the Washington Department of Ecology for repeatedly polluting the water at its net fish pen facility on the south end of Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound.
The Bainbridge Island Review reported that Cooke has repeatedly cleaned dirty equipment on its Fort Ward dock on Rich Passage since last summer, violating state law that protects water quality.
Officials said the fine followed two warning letters, multiple phone calls to the company, and a notice of violation.
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific operates salmon farms in multiple locations in Washington state waters, and the Department of Ecology investigated the company’s activities at its Bainbridge facility after receiving complaints from citizens that Cooke employees were pressure washing equipment on its Bainbridge dock and allowing the wastewater from the cleaning operation to flow into Puget Sound.
Pressure washing boat
Despite warning letters and phone calls from the Department of Ecology, the company’s employees continued to use a pressure washer on equipment on the dock, the Bainbridge Island Review reported. A citizen sent in a video showing workers pressure washing a boat on the dock on August 1, and more complaints — with photographs — were submitted to the state in mid September that showed employees working on a boat engine, as well as cleaning a boat, on the dock.
“We take our environmental obligations very seriously and have, in fact, modified our practices to address these matters,” Nell Halse, of Cooke Aquaculture, told the Review. “We will be responding promptly and directly to the Department of Ecology.”
The company has 30 days to appeal the penalty.
Difficult few months
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific has had a difficult few months. In October net pens containing more than 300,000 fish collapsed at its facility near Cypress Island in Puget Sound, with around 100,000 of the fish still unaccounted for. The farm had recently been acquired from another operator, and Cooke was waiting permission from the authorities to carry out improvements.
In November, pressure group Wild Fish Conservancy filed a lawsuit against Cooke, arguing that the collapse and subsequent release of fish and debris from the farm violated the federal Clean Water Act.
A bill is also due to be introduced in the Washington state legislature next month which would outlaw net pen salmon farming. Cooke owns all the salmon farms in the state.
