Salmon pens may be moved from Port Angeles Harbor

Published 12:29 pm Wednesday, November 18, 2015

PORT ANGELES — A seafood company is proposing to move its Atlantic salmon fish farm operations out of Port Angeles Harbor because of plans for a Navy pier.

The Peninsula Daily News reports that Icicle Seafoods Inc., of Seattle, currently keeps fish just south of Ediz Hook. The pens are too close to a proposed U.S. Navy pier to be located at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, and officials are considering moving them into the Strait of Juan de Fuca by 2017.

Icicle official Alan Cook says he believes the proposed pier will be completed, though the full planning process is not yet complete.

Cook says the new location offers better water flow to keep the pens clear of fish waste, and would allow the expansion to 1.1 million salmon.