Cooke Aquaculture’s lease cancelled

Liza Mayer  December 18, 2017  

Cooke Aquaculture’s Atlantic salmon farm in Port Angeles, Washington has been ordered to shut down after government inspections revealed “risks to the public and the environment.”

The farm, which comprises one large pen with 14 cages and a smaller pen with six cages, is outside the boundaries of its lease with the department and causing a navigation hazard, Hilary Franz, state commissioner of public lands, who terminated Cooke’s lease, was quoted as saying by The Seattle Times.

Franz said her decision is final.

The farm holds nearly 700,000 Atlantic salmon.

Earlier, the company was fined $8,000 by the Department of Ecology for "repeated" water-quality violations.