Another environmental issue has, hopefully, been averted. The question I have is why did it take DNR so long to make the decision. It appears, from the article, that there have been issues at this facility and others for years and nothing was done.

Look at the standards being asked of Cooke and then look at the enhancement facilities the State and Tribes run and what standards they are held to.

Speaking from years of experience, when the Dept of Agriculture gets involved, the resource is often the loser.

That is very true. There are still water quality regulations and shoreline regulations that other entities control.

What perturbs me about the situation is that the problem is not Atlantics, it is the operation of the pens to raise fish. That problem would have been significantly worse had they been raising one of the Pacific salmon species.

This is a good first step. It’s only Port Angeles for now.

If you're concern is purely AS, then yes there is just PA. If your concern is water quality, escapes, disease then that is just the tip of the iceburg.

What I would like to know is this. With all the anti-gillnet hate, and all of the commercial fishing hate, and all of the complaining about our seasons being closed due to low returns, and not enough fish to go around.... WHAT exactly do people propose to meet the market demand for fresh fish if we drastically curtain commercial fishing, which so many people seem to desperately want?

This has been a "on going problem". This did not JUST HAPPEN OVER NIGHT, my question is what Federal or State agency should be held directly responsible???? There must/should have been regular checking of this site and others......there has to be documents, on file that show/explain how bad this site was.

Maybe someone NOT doing their job????????

My thought is we do not have to, not should we try to, meet market demand. The world keeps growing, and Puget Sound is not designed to feed the world. That's why people want to shut down commercial, cuz it's already over taxing the resource that is ours, the people of the state, to enjoy. It's not our responsibility to exploit it as a commercial Enterprise.

NT gill net salmon fishing probably should be reduced.......as to your comment on people wanting "fresh fish", this is not PRE 1973, there are ways to get fresh fish. Right now, in Aberdeen, there is fresh salmon for sale.

Department of Ecology managed the water quality, WDFW managed the fish health, WDFW and WADNR managed the site, Clallam County managed the shorelines concerns/operating issues.

It is a rather large fuster cluck as the buck can easily be passed to somebody else.

It is easy to say that PS can't produce fish to "feed the world" but as human populations grows they need food from somewhere whether it be salmon, crab, shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels. People gotta eat. Even if "we" decide not to feed them, somebody else will have to which compromises their environment.

That is the classic argument for overfishing. There is more than enough salmon in the marketplace. Don't you see it in every major grocery store? Indeed, a lot of it goes to waste when it doesn't sell before the pull date.

I wish the commercial market would diversify more, focusing on niche markets that deliver maximum value to fishermen for top quality product. There is some of that going on, but so far, it's only been on top of the usual trawl and gillnet impacts. As resources become scarce, their value increases. If salmon are to remain a sustainable resource, we need to recognize and capitalize on their true value in commercial markets.

The other argument is to compare commercial fishing to commercial hunting. The later ceased to be legal once it became clear that the wildlife couldn't sustain it. At what point will the former reach the tipping point? It's a sure thing with mammals, but will people ever make tough decisions to save a bunch of cold, slimy fish?

US/Canada treaty should be challenged due to impacts on Salish Sea Orcas. IMHO hungry whales lead to this event.

So, who will provide food for the Orcas?
I thought at the Commission meeting, the WDFW Director said it would be 3-4 years before increased hatchery production levels to sustain the Orcas?

Slab, that is the reason why the only short term solution to the whales is closing the fisheries that intercept the food. Takes time for the increased hatchery production to be collected as eggs, hatched, grown, released, and then survive those selfsame fisheries to return.

Habitat fixes are the exactly the same. Say you could get the Congress and WA Leg to fully fund habitat fixes so that all the impediments are fixed by July 1 of 2019. Hey, we got the Big Dude in the WH who can make 'Murica Great. Anyway, it is all fixed so that everything that spawns after 1/1/19 has ideal habitat. It is still 4 more years before the first big push pop adult chi book come back. 2023. Until then, the whales can starve.

There are plenty of fish, they can and will still raise them here. Just not in Puget Sound.
Fish farms are not concerned about market demand. They want there farms where Pacific Salmon live. This is about market share.

Farmed Atlantic Salmon now outnumber Wild Atlantic Salmon 99 to 1.
If they can decrease the amount of wild Pacific Salmon, They can raise the price exponentially for there inferior product.
What is the easier way to make more money? Double there output and watch the price go into the toilet?
Or replace 10-20% of Pacific salmon with farms and the price for farmed Atlantic Salmon goes way up.

Northern, AK & DC interceptions decrease the biomass needed to sustain the Southern pods.

The Northern fisheries should be limited. We are left below escapement?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

The Northern folks could say the same thing. Leave us alone and you cut back.

Why is their fishery less "legitimate" than ours? I could say that they are fishing on juveniles, mixed stocks, and such but so do we. By the way, I don't support the northern fisheries at all.

I would say theirs is less legitimate because it exploits a huge percentage of OUR fish. Our fish, plus Canada's, plus Alaska's puts very nearly every Pacific Salmon at risk if being caught in their fishery.

One more outstanding argument for terminal fisheries, if you ask me. Everybody gets to fish over what their own conservation management yields, and nothing more. Good management rewarded with good returns, as it should be.