Washington State’s Department of Ecology announced on Monday that Cooke Aquaculture had dropped its appeal and agreed to pay the full fine for the escape.
Following the incident, which Cooke blamed on unusually strong tides, the state’s legislature decided to ban the production of non-native fish by 2022, while Cooke’s remaining salmon sites in the state are subject to increased surveillance in the meantime.
According to the Department of Ecology about 80 percent of the fine will be spent on regional salmon enhancement or habitat restoration projects. The rest will go to the state's Coastal Protection Fund.
