A court in Washington State has granted Cooke Aquaculture Pacific an extension to decommission its fish farms in Puget Sound.
The Superior Court has upheld Cooke’s motion against the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Hilary Franz, the Commissioner of Public Lands, allowing it until 14 April 2023 to safely harvest steelhead trout and remove equipment at the Rich Passage and Hope Island farms.
Cooke successfully argued that timelines proposed by DNR were arbitrary and impossible to meet without exposing Cooke employees to dangerous winter working conditions.
The company asserted that farm sites were managed to strict harvest schedules and deviating from these would increase environmental risk and cause significant financial harm.
“We are grateful that the court granted our request as this extension gives our employees the flexibility required in a marine environment to ensure safe working conditions,” said the company. “Cooke can now remove the fish on its original harvest schedule and properly remove our equipment without subjecting employees to unnecessary risk.”
