PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An environmental group has served a discover of intent to sue one of many world’s largest aquaculture corporations for violations of the Clean Water Act in Maine — allegations the fish farmer ardently denies.
The Conservation Law Foundation helps it Cooke Aquaculture Salmon farming websites off the coast of Maine pollute the state’s bays, the place lobster fishing is a key business. The farms encompass pens within the ocean the place Atlantic salmon are grown to be used as meals.
The Boston-based legislation basis mentioned in its Thursday notification that it could sue Cooke in federal courtroom in Maine to deliver the corporate into compliance. It is alleged that the corporate dumps pollution comparable to fish feces, useless fish and waste into Maine’s coastal waters.
“These huge salmon cages they’re like sewer pipes for the marine setting,” mentioned Heather Govern, vp of the inspiration’s clear air and water program. “Their strong waste suffocates vegetation and ocean life whereas epidemics erupt and cut off his face threaten close by endangered wild salmon.”
Cooke shortly denied the allegations, and firm representatives mentioned the corporate totally complies with the legal guidelines. The firm, primarily based in New Brunswick, Canada, launched an announcement saying that farms are “repeatedly inspected by state regulators and topic to common monitoring reviews” to make sure compliance.
“Fish aquaculture has coexisted with conventional fisheries, comparable to lobster, in Maine waters for greater than 40 years. Lobster landings are usually not negatively impacted by Atlantic salmon farming,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement.
Cooke is a worldwide aquaculture big and describes itself as the most important privately held family-owned seafood firm on the planet. On its web site it states that it operates in 14 nations.
Some environmental teams, together with the Sierra Club, have focused Cooke through the years over considerations in regards to the sustainability of his operations in Maine and elsewhere. Sebastian Belle, government director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, mentioned Saturday that the Conservation Law Foundation has been working with salmon farmers to develop environmental requirements, and the act of submitting the lawsuit got here as a shock.
“Given that the CLF and different teams related to the proposed lawsuit haven’t expressed any of their considerations to farmers and that they’ll all profit financially, one should ask why farmers would ever work cooperatively with these teams to handle their considerations,” Belle mentioned.
