Cooke Aquaculture again apologized for the accident thatallowed tens of thousands of its farmed Atlantic salmon to escape into the Puget Sound, and pledged that it would work with tribes and government agencies on several efforts to mitigate the impacts of the release.
Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, issued a personal apology on Wednesday, 4 October.
“We deeply regret the failure at our Cypress Island farm over the summer, and we are taking every responsible step we can to make the situation right,” Cooke said. “Cooke is committed to ensuring that any adverse consequences to the environment are identified and addressed, that compensation to the Coast Salish tribes that have aided in the recovery of escaped salmon is prompt and fair, and that the public, the region’s tribal communities, and our state agency partners can regain their trust in Cooke’s operations.”
In addition, the salmon supplier is “continuing to work with all state, federal, and tribal agencies to ensure that this incident is not repeated,” Cooke said. “As a recent purchaser of this farm, we had already prioritized the facility for upgrade, and we have plans to spend significant amounts of capital over the next few years to upgrade all our facilities in Washington. We’ll also be sharing concepts from our experience in other regulatory environments throughout the world with lawmakers and regulators to enhance and strengthen the state’s regulatory framework for net-pen aquaculture.”
The company has also offered Coast Salish tribes in excess of USD 1.5 million (EUR 1.3 million) for their assistance in recovering escaped salmon, Cooke said in his apology.
“We are tremendously grateful for the assistance from several Coast Salish tribes in the recovery of the escaped fish, especially given the deep concern that many tribal members have about potential impacts to native salmon runs in their ancestral waters,” Cooke said. “On the positive side, there is no evidence that any of the escaped fish from the Cypress Island incident are occupying native fish habitat or depleting native fish food supplies."
After inspecting the stomachs of more than 500 recovered fish stomachs, the salmon farming company found that their stomachs were completely empty, according to Glenn Cooke.
As of 3 October, Cooke accounted for 200,927 fish, including 145,851 fish recovered from its damaged Cypress Island structure, and 49,892 fish recovered through the company’s fish buy-back program, with significant help from several Coast Salish tribal communities.
Multiple prior attempts by Washington state agencies to introduce Atlantic salmon into Pacific waters have failed to interbreed with wild salmon, according to Cooke, “as have attempts by the Canadian government, which released over eight million Atlantic salmon into Pacific waters over the course of decades, with no colonization or interbreeding occurring as a result.”
However, Cooke said the company understands concerns from the tribal communities about long-term impacts of the escaped fish in their tribal waters, and has offered to fund a study to evaluate any potential impacts that may arise.
“We want to work with the tribes on this. We have asked for the ongoing input and participation from several Coast Salish tribes in a scientific monitoring program that includes the selection of academic researchers, the sharing of real-time sampling and testing data, as well as consultation and coordination with their tribal fisheries experts,” Cooke said.
The salmon farming company also offered to expand the tribes’ expert capacity by funding some full-time positions within their tribal fisheries departments or at their tribal hatcheries.
