Group threatens to sue over farmed salmon in Puget Sound

SEATTLE (AP) — A conservation group says 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 says 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 says that violates the Endangered Species Act.

The organization says 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.

A spokesman for the EPA said it does not comment on pending litigation, and the fisheries service did not immediately return a call seeking comment.