Following a legal settlement, the Washington state aquaculture company responsible for the failure of its floating net pen in August 2017 will pay a $322,000 US penalty to the Washington Department of Ecology. More than 250,000 Atlantic salmon were released into the Pacific from Cooke Aquaculture's Cypress Island facility, due east of Victoria, after fish farm nets were damaged. At the time, Cooke blamed high tides, currents and a coinciding solar eclipse for the failure of the net pen, but a subsequent report blamed the company for negligence, saying the collapse was preventable. "The agreement was to pay the full penalty, but use 80 per cent of the proceeds towards a supplemental environmental project," he said. The collapse of the fish farm led to a multi-agency investigation, and ultimately to the Washington state legislature passing a bill to phase out non-native fish farming, starting in 2022.

Source: CBC News April 30, 2019 03:00 UTC