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#1060942 - 11/14/22 08:59 PM DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound
bushbear Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 4709
Loc: Sequim
Announcement regarding future of finfish net pen aquaculture in Washington slated for Friday

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has ended the remaining two finfish net pen aquaculture leases on Washington’s state-owned aquatic lands.

DNR officials informed Cooke Aquaculture Monday that the agency will not renew expired leases for the two remaining finfish net pen aquaculture facilities in Washington; in Rich Passage off Bainbridge Island and off Hope Island in Skagit Bay.

“Since the catastrophic Cypress Island net pen collapse in 2017, I have stood tall to defend the waters of Puget Sound,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. “This effort began by terminating finfish net pen operations due to lease violations. Despite years of litigation – and a company that has fought us every step of the way – we are now able to deny lease renewals for the remaining net pen sites. Today, we are returning our waters to wild fish and natural habitat. Today, we are freeing Puget Sound of enclosed cages.”

“This is a critical step to support our waters, fishermen, tribes, and the native salmon that we are so ferociously fighting to save,” said Commissioner Franz.

DNR’s denial of Cooke Aquaculture’s request to re-lease the sites to continue finfish net pen aquaculture gives the company until December 14 to finish operations and begin removing its facilities and repairing any environmental damage.

The Hope Island lease expired in March and has been in month-to-month holdover status since. The Rich Passage lease expired in November.

Decision Draws Support
Salish tribes and conservation groups hailed the decision as a step toward protecting the habitat of struggling stocks of native salmon.

“We are very pleased that Commissioner Franz rejected Cooke Aquaculture’s lease application. Removal of the existing net pen will restore full access to the Tribe’s culturally important fishing area in northern Skagit Bay. Swinomish are the People of the Salmon, and fishing has been our way of life since time immemorial. Cooke’s net pens have interfered with the exercise of our treaty rights for far too long. We look forward to the day when the Hope Island net pen facility will be a distant memory,” said Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Chairman Steve Edwards.

“This decision is a joyous and historic victory for the recovery of wild fish, orcas, and the health of Puget Sound,” says Emma Helverson, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “For years, the public has overwhelmingly called for an end to this dangerous industry in our public waters. Commissioner Franz’s response proves she is both accountable to the public and dedicated to protecting Puget Sound’s irreplaceable public heritage for current and future generations.”

“We say, ‘the table is set when the tide goes out.’ Seafoods have always been a staple of Samish diet and traditions,” said Tom Wooten, Samish Indian Nation Chairman. “By removing the Sound’s remaining net pens, our delicate ecosystem now gets a chance to replenish, repair and heal. We are grateful and lift our hands to the DNR’s partnership in helping protect the Salish Sea that tie us to our history and culture.”

Denials End Saga Started by 2017 Collapse
Cooke Aquaculture had previously leased four sites for net pen aquaculture from the Department of Natural Resources, recently growing steelhead trout in the net pens after years of using them to grow Atlantic salmon.

DNR’s letters denying an extension of Cooke’s leases lists several areas where the firm violated terms of the leases. DNR determined that allowing Cooke to continue operations posed risks of environmental harm to state-owned aquatic lands resulting from lack of adherence to lease provisions and increased costs to DNR associated with contract compliance, monitoring, and enforcement.

In August of 2017, a net pen at Cooke’s Cypress Island fish farm collapsed, releasing hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound. As a result, DNR terminated that lease. Cooke was fined $332,000 and found negligent by the state Department of Ecology. The net pens were removed in 2018.

In December of 2017, DNR terminated Cooke’s Port Angeles lease due to Cooke operating in an unauthorized area and failing to maintain the facility in a safe condition. Cooke challenged that termination in the superior court and that litigation is still pending.

The Washington state Legislature in 2018 phased out Atlantic salmon farming, and the company since shifted operations at its remaining leaseholds in Rich Passage and Hope Island to grow sterile steelhead trout.

Future Net Pen Policy will be Announced Friday
Following the denials of these lease renewals, Commissioner Franz is reviewing policies for net pen salmon aquaculture throughout Washington’s state-owned aquatic lands, and will announce this decision at a press conference alongside partners and tribes at 11 a.m. Friday, November 18, on Bainbridge Island.

###

MEDIA CONTACT
Joe Smillie
Communications Manager
Cell: 360-688-3392
Joe.smillie@dnr.wa.gov

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#1060944 - 11/15/22 08:00 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
I am curious as to how this will affect net pens run by the State and Tribes. The pollution, food, and disease aspects are the same but perhaps on a smaller scale. Plus, the State and Tribes use fish that can easily stray and hybridize with native species; something the Atlantic Salmon were way less successful at.

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#1060945 - 11/15/22 08:42 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Jake Dogfish Offline
Spawner

Registered: 06/24/00
Posts: 554
Loc: Des Moines
Yeah! It’s about time! smile

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#1060946 - 11/15/22 09:22 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: Carcassman]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13520
Originally Posted By: Carcassman
I am curious as to how this will affect net pens run by the State and Tribes. The pollution, food, and disease aspects are the same but perhaps on a smaller scale. Plus, the State and Tribes use fish that can easily stray and hybridize with native species; something the Atlantic Salmon were way less successful at.


Excellent point C'man. I think the negative issues with the Cooke fish farms was way over blown beyond actual deliterious impacts, but the natural environment is better off without them. As for the state and tribal net pens located in South Sound, the state wrote off wild salmon production in favor of hatchery production in south Puget Sound in the 1960s, and nothing has really changed in that regard.

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#1060947 - 11/15/22 02:47 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Yeah, Salmo, I worked in the WQ end of the world for quite a while. I agree about the impacts and also that we don't really need them here. There are/were pens in Hood Canal and also some pretty big ones in lakes/reservoirs/rivers. Guess they're all OK.

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#1060949 - 11/16/22 08:14 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Mr.Twister Offline
Spawner

Registered: 10/15/03
Posts: 711
Loc: Olympia
I have heard that net pens in general have negative effects such as disease, sea lice, etc..even if they are raising native species. However, as others have pointed out, the business still exists within tribal management practices in many areas. I also used to see many of these operations in BC waters when fishing up there. Is the real motivation based on commercial tribal and non tribal interests fearing competition? Since there is no political will to really limit commercial fishing (including anyone else making a living on fishing), wouldn't net pen rearing relieve the pressure on wild and hatchery fish?
_________________________
"I'm old and tough, dirty and rough" -Barnacle Bill the sailor

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#1060950 - 11/16/22 10:11 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Having played in that sandbox for a while I think that fear of the commercials from competition is/was real. A hatchery, whether upland or net-pen, can provide a consistent product of a consistent quality of a consistent size 24/7/365. That beats seasonal available wild fish. That said, any confined rearing whether it be fish or cows or chickens comes with environmental costs from concentrated waste, uneaten food, and the possibility of disease.

As to the question of whether net pens could relieve the pressure on wild stocks the answer is yes. But relieving that pressure puts commercial fihermen out of business.

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#1060960 - 11/17/22 10:13 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Larry B Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/22/09
Posts: 3020
Loc: University Place and Whidbey I...
Not discussed here has been the tribal argument that the net pens adversely impacted tribal fishing rights. That is the same objection tribes submitted to the USACE causing the Corps to deny WDFW's permit request for the single lane replacement small boat launch at Pont No Point.
_________________________
Remember to immediately record your catch or you may become the catch!

It's the person who has done nothing who is sure nothing can be done. (Ewing)

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#1060961 - 11/17/22 10:20 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
I know they have successfully pushed that argument but since the Court mandated sharing is 50:50 and they are (generally) exceeding that it seems hard to argue interference when you are that successful.

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#1060964 - 11/17/22 11:24 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
JustBecause Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 07/18/08
Posts: 237
Should be clarified that the DNR decision was on net pen operations that raise fish to maturity, for seafood market - mostly atlantic salmon and some rainbow/steelhead. The other net pen operations in Puget Sound are mainly or even exclusively(?) used for rearing juvenile hatchery salmon (PS Chinook and coho) ahead of release, to grow in the sound and or ocean. These juvenile netpens would not be affected by this DNR decision.

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#1060967 - 11/17/22 12:48 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
They aren't affected by it but they still put uneaten food, feces, and pathogens into the water column. May be more localized but same sort of impact.

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#1060969 - 11/17/22 03:09 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Mr.Twister Offline
Spawner

Registered: 10/15/03
Posts: 711
Loc: Olympia
That's why I am puzzled about the entire decision and the "I'm saving the sound" from Franz. Not a proponent of net pens and I don't know all the science of the impacts but blanket policies worry me when they seem driven by politics. Like most of our resource management seems to be.
_________________________
"I'm old and tough, dirty and rough" -Barnacle Bill the sailor

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#1060970 - 11/17/22 06:26 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Net pens of any type use the sound as their sewage treatment. They do appear to concentrate some pathogens and bugs that do attack wild fish. So, there are some good science-based reasons to close them down. But I tend to believe that base reasons are political and tied to the competition between reared fish and caught fish.

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#1061007 - 11/19/22 06:41 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#1061008 - 11/19/22 07:07 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
riverdick Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 05/10/09
Posts: 137
Loc: around the next bend
Totally political and not science or economical based decision!

Yes there is a degree of environmental impact but we are a growing population with a increasing seafood demand and decreasing natural resources.

There probably was a time when raising terrestrials wasn't a publicly well received idea but look where we are now, a total necessity.

US seafood trade deficit is unbelievable when considering our coastlines.

Wake up people.

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#1061010 - 11/20/22 08:41 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: Larry B]
RUNnGUN Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 12/06/07
Posts: 1382
Originally Posted By: Larry B
Not discussed here has been the tribal argument that the net pens adversely impacted tribal fishing rights.


Seems not all tribes are opposed to net pen rearing for commercial purposes. These pens are operated on the Colville Reservation. https://www.pacificseafood.com/species/steelhead/

Discussions seem to focus on "Non Native Species". Does that mean native species production will continue? Found this on NOAA.

"Following the failure of an Atlantic salmon net pen in 2018, the Washington Legislature decided to phase out Atlantic salmon net pens by 2022 and prohibit new aquaculture operations with non-native fish in state waters. Cooke Aquaculture, which operates net pens in Puget Sound, has proposed raising sterile native steelhead. Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the ocean and back like salmon. In addition, the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe is developing net pen aquaculture with sablefish (also known as Black cod), a species native to the Pacific Northwest."

At one time I thought net pens could be a silver bullet saving wild fish from commercial fishing. I still do, if done in a clean manner. I think net pen operations will adapt and continue to have a future even though competing commercial interests would like otherwise.

Watched Hilary Franz press conference. Found it funny, all the smolt killing cormorants in the background.


Edited by RUNnGUN (11/20/22 08:50 AM)
_________________________
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller.
Don't let the old man in!

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#1061011 - 11/20/22 08:47 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Love to see the actual bill passed by the Leg. Public hatcheries and net pens are aquaculture. WDFW does, or did, produce Brown Trout, Brook Trout, Tiger Trout, crappie, Catfish, Tiger Musky all of which are non-native.

I do recall, pre-merger, that the Commission was considering banning any species that ate native species from importation to WA. At the same time they were actively promoting the Tiger Musky specifically to eat native cyprinids.

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#1061012 - 11/20/22 11:07 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: Carcassman]
darth baiter Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 04/04/10
Posts: 199
Loc: United States
Originally Posted By: Carcassman
Love to see the actual bill passed by the Leg. Public hatcheries and net pens are aquaculture. WDFW does, or did, produce Brown Trout, Brook Trout, Tiger Trout, crappie, Catfish, Tiger Musky all of which are non-native.

I do recall, pre-merger, that the Commission was considering banning any species that ate native species from importation to WA. At the same time they were actively promoting the Tiger Musky specifically to eat native cyprinids.



Here ya go CM. Please report back on your assessment.

https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2017-18/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/2957.SL.pdf#page=1

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#1061013 - 11/20/22 04:17 PM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7411
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Thanks. The bill was for non-native finfish in marine waters. So, until we kick over to Stripers or Shad we're good to go with the freshwater non-natives.

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#1061073 - 11/30/22 07:36 AM Re: DNR ends last two finfish farms in Puget Sound [Re: bushbear]
RUNnGUN Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 12/06/07
Posts: 1382
Looks like Cooke Aquaculture has now partnered up with the Jamestown S. Klallam Tribe to pen raise steelhead they call native. I think, but not sure that the steelhead are actually Triploid Rainbows? Also curious how the pollution and desease issues with other net pens will be addressed, or just swept under the carpet because of lawsuit fears of tribal rights.

https://www.knkx.org/environment/2019-10...-the-salish-sea

Some detailed environmental issues:

https://www.oursound-oursalmon.org/truth#:~:text=The%20long%20list%20of%20environmental,shrimp%20and%20crabs%3B%20and%20whale%2C


Edited by RUNnGUN (11/30/22 07:37 AM)
_________________________
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller.
Don't let the old man in!

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