BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 23, 2021
The state is investigating why an estimated 100,000 fish died at a salmon aquaculture site off Mount Desert Island and hopes to have an answer in a couple of weeks. The die-off at the fish farm, located off Black Island between MDI and Swan’s Island, was reported by Cooke Aquaculture to Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Aug. 27. That was 11 days after the company, which operates roughly two dozen salmon farms along the Maine coast, first realized they had a problem. Cooke has violated Maine regulations in the past. In 2019, Cooke was ordered to pay more than $150,000 to fund a wild salmon restoration effort after multiple violations at salmon pen sites the company operates in Hancock and Washington counties.