November, 5, 2015 — SEATTLE (AP) — The Wild Fish Conservancy filed a lawsuit Wednesday against federal environmental and fisheries managers for allowing commercial salmon farms in Puget Sound.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle says that infectious viruses in salmon farms are threatening wild fish in the region.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded in 2011 that commercial salmon farms are not likely to have an adverse effect on wild salmon, the lawsuit said.
But the following year, it said, there was an outbreak of an infectious virus at a commercial salmon farm at the south end of Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound. The outbreak occurred while wild juvenile salmon were migrating through the area and likely had a significant impact on the wild fish, the group said.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction that would force federal officials to reconsider commercial salmon farms in Puget Sound in light of the outbreak.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Connecticut Post