By Pepper Fisher
SEATTLE – Friday morning, the Superior Court of the State of Washington granted the motion filed by Cooke Aquaculture against the State Department of Natural Resources and Hilary Franz, the Commissioner of Public Lands, to extend the deadline to April 14 to harvest steelhead trout and remove equipment at the Rich Passage and Hope Island fish farms in Puget Sound.
Cooke and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe are still pursuing a license to operate a similar facility in Port Angeles Harbor. This decision doesn’t affect that effort. What the court decided was that Cooke does not have to shut down their facilities immediately, but can, instead, continue to operate those net pens and have them removed by April 14.
Cooke argued that Franz’ timeline to shut down all operations by December 14, 2022 was arbitrary, put their employees at risk during dangerous winter working conditions, and would cause significant financial harm.
Cooke said they can now remove the fish on their original harvest schedule and remove their equipment without subjecting employees to unnecessary risk.
(Associated Press photo of farmed Atlantic salmon)