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After 3 Decades, Washington State Bans Atlantic Salmon Farms
by rd95

    Opposition to the farms grew after one of Cooke Aquaculture's three net pens off Cypress Island imploded in August. Fish from another ocean quickly swam north into Canada, south past Tacoma and up several rivers, raising fears among tribes and environmentalists that the invaders could harm the region's struggling runs of wild Pacific salmon.

    While officials and early media accounts blamed a solar eclipse for the collapse, state investigators later concluded that the farm's poor condition — corroded and overgrown with tons of mussels and other sea life — made it more vulnerable to the push of tidal currents that arrive like clockwork in Puget Sound.