Cooke Aquaculture hit with fine for water quality violations at fish farm

Cooke Aquaculture is being penalized for something other than accidentally releasing Atlantic farm salmon into the Puget Sound region.

The company was fined $8,000 for violating state law over water quality issues, according to a news release from the Washington Department of Ecology. The penalties involve violations that took place at Cooke’s Bainbridge Island net pen facility dating back to August 2016. Violations include putting polluting matter into state waters, changing boat engine oil over the waters and allowing wastewater from pressure washing into the Puget Sound.

The fines are unrelated to the net pen collapse near Cypress Island more than three months ago. The state is currently investigating that incident for which Ecology may issue separate penalties, according to the news release.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Cooke Aquaculture hit with fine for water quality violations at fish farm."