Clean up continues at wrecked Cooke site
Recovery work has been continuing this week at Cooke Aquaculture’s Cypress Island site in Skagit County, Washington State.
Yesterday, Cooke Aquaculture crews continued to deconstruct damaged net pen array two. Outside walkways were removed from two of the pens as well as one half and one full outrigger. All ten stock nets have now been removed and all fish left on site have been recovered. Four total anchors have been recovered, including chain and rope.
The current total count of fish recovered from the damaged farm site is 145,101, with recovered fish still being counted. Approximately 305,000 salmon were in the pens that failed during high tides two weeks ago.
Structures removed from the wreckage are being staged for lifting by the crane barge. All rope and netting must be removed and the pieces split into 40 foot lengths. Water quality samples are being conducted daily and show no adverse effects.
On Sunday, crews removed a third anchor and the tenth and final cage net from the wreckage. Walkways that were removed on Saturday were prepared and split to 40 foot lengths for lifting by the crane barge.
The company said water quality samples are being conducted daily at locations up-current, adjacent to, and down-current from the farm site and show no adverse effects. Sampling results are being provided daily to the Unified Incident Command.
Tribal, commercial and recreational fishers continue to recapture fish that escaped the enclosure and Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is collecting data on those catches.
