Conservation group plans to sue salmon farm operator over coastal pollution [Video]

The Conservation Law Foundation intends to sue a Canadian aquaculture company for what it says are Clean Water Act violations at 13 sites in Maine where the business “grows millions of salmon in 150 cages.”

The group said in a news release on Thursday that Cooke Aquaculture “regularly pollutes Maine’s iconic bays and negatively impacts recreation and the lobstering and fishing industries.”

It is the latest flare up in a long-running clash between the aquaculture industry and environmental advocates and other critics who say Maine’s coastline is being overrun by industrial-size operations that pollute the state’s pristine waters and take valuable bottom from Maine’s iconic, nearly half-billion-dollar lobster industry.

The Conservation Law Foundation is a New England advocacy group with an office in Portland.

A spokesperson for Cooke Aquaculture said it would provide a response but didn’t immediately address the complaint.

“These enormous salmon cages are like sewage pipes to the marine environment,” said Heather Govern, vice president for CLF’s Clean Air and Water Program, in a …