Associated Press
SEATTLE - A conservation group said it intends to sue the federal government for allowing farm-raised salmon in Puget Sound.
Wild Fish Conservancy sent a letter Tuesday to the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, giving them a required 60-day notice of intent to sue. The organization said the agencies failed to fully assess the danger of floating pens of non-native Atlantic salmon to protected wild salmon runs, including chinook and Hood Canal chum salmon as well as steelhead. Wild Fish Conservancy said that violates the Endangered Species Act.
The organization said there are eight net-pens operating in Puget Sound that annually raise 10 million pounds of Atlantic salmon, but those fish can and have spread disease to wild salmon.
Spokesmen for the EPA and the fisheries service declined to comment.
