WE DID IT! GOODBYE PUGET SOUND NET PENS

DNR Denies New Net Pen Leases In Historic Victory for Wild Salmon, Orcas, & the Health of Puget Sound

Today, we are beyond thrilled to share a massive environmental victory for wild salmon, orcas, and the health of Puget Sound that we have all worked so hard to achieve.

Over the past five years, through the Our Sound, Our Salmon campaign and coalition, we've been fighting together tooth and nail in the Courts, the legislature, and through direct appeals to state officials, calling for an end to the dangerous commercial net pen industry that threatens the health of Puget Sound.

Now, thanks to the unwavering advocacy of our broad-based coalition, Tribal Nations, elected officials, global partners, and so many others— WE DID IT! 

Washington state has finally taken bold action to end commercial net pen aquaculture in Puget Sound.

Yesterday, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and her staff at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) made a groundbreaking announcement that they will no longer lease our public waters to Cooke Aquaculture. Yesterday, DNR delivered a letter to the company's executives notifying them that DNR denied their applications for new 12-year leases to operate net pens in Puget Sound. Cooke now has until December 14th to harvest any remaining fish and completely remove all of their facilities and debris from our public waters. 

As the sole commercial net pen operator in Washington, this historic and monumental decision will effectively eliminate this industry from Puget Sound by the end of the year. In case it hasn't sunk in yet, it's finally time to say goodbye to Cooke Aquaculture.

“Since the catastrophic Cypress Island net pen collapse in 2017, I have stood tall to defend the waters of Puget Sound. 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.”

— Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, November 14, 2022

The importance of this decision for wild fish, water quality, and the greater health of Puget Sound cannot be overstated. Immediately, this action will cease the chronic untreated pollution that has been discharged every single day by this industry over the past thirty years. Finally, these heavily polluted and degraded sites will have the opportunity to heal and begin the process of natural restoration as part of the largest passive restoration project in Washington's history.

Wild fish will migrate freely through Puget Sound without the risk of exposure to viruses, parasites, and diseases amplified and spread at unnatural levels by massive densities of farmed fish, and Washington will never face the risk of another catastrophic net pen collapse ever again. 

We also cannot emphasize enough the importance of this dfor the public's use and enjoyment of Puget Sound. For the first time in three decades, DNR’s decision will restore the public and Tribal access to over 130 acres of Puget Sound that have been restricted and degraded by this industry for far too long.

Beyond Washington, Commissioner Franz's decision is finally uniting the entire U.S. Pacific Coast in excluding this industry from marine waters. Combined with Canada's recent commitment to transition this same industry out of British Columbia's marine waters, this decision has the potential to eliminate a major limiting factor to wild Pacific salmon recovery at a coastwide and international scale.

Washington's decision to end commercial salmon aquaculture will also serve as an important model that will be leveraged by communities and governments around the world working toward the same goal in their public waters. Wild Fish Conservancy is proud to be a member of the Global Salmon Farming Resistance, a global alliance of organizations working together to protect marine ecosystems around the world from the commercial net pen industry.

All and all, today's massive environmental victory demonstrates what is possible when the public unifies their voices and works together with the law and science on their side toward the shared goal of a healthier Puget Sound.

Our Sound, Our Salmon Flotilla Protest, October 2017

THE FIRST OF MANY CELEBRATIONS

Even more exciting still, on Friday, Commissioner Franz has scheduled a press conference where she will announce DNR is setting new state policy to ensure the protection of Puget Sound into the future. The news will be delivered at 11:00 am on Bainbridge Island overlooking the net pens in Rich Passage on the very same beach where we held the Our Sound, Our Salmon flotilla protest back in 2017.  Wild Fish Conservancy is honored to participate in this historic event alongside Commissioner Franz and Tribal Nations, and we encourage you to come join us to celebrate this major announcement. We'll send out more information later this week with details for those interested in joining for the event. 

Over the last two years of calling on Commissioner Franz to make the right decision for wild salmon, orcas, tribal treaty rights, and the health of Puget sound, her recent decision demonstrates she heard our voices loud and clear. We could not be more grateful to Commissioner Franz and her team for their dedication and commitment to protecting the health of Puget Sound for current and future generations. In the days to come, we'll be reaching out with opportunities to thank Commissioner Franz for making this monumental environmental success possible. 

But even as we celebrate Commissioner Franz, it's clear that this victory for wild salmon, orcas, and Puget Sound belongs to no one person or group. Without the actions of thousands of individuals, Washington’s Tribal Nations, businesses, organizations, chefs, fishing groups, scientists, elected officials, moms and dads, and others working together over so many years, this victory would never have been possible.

Working together, we took back Puget Sound.

Thank you to the nearly 10,000 individuals and 130 businesses and organizations supporting the Taking Back Our Sound petition to Commissioner Hilary Franz.

Trout Unlimited California
Frosty Hollow Ecological Restoration
Harbor Porpoise Project
Fraser Valley Extinction Rebellion
Friends of Miller Peninsula State Park
Brightside Charitable Foundation
Bamboo Rod Works
Northwest Sportfishing Industry Assn.
Baja Boat Works LLC
Alala Farm
Ecoservices
Falcon Mountain Services
Bell Hill Properties
Rich Passage Estates Homeowners’ Association
Salmon Fishers Back
Wild Whales Vancouver
Seattle Green Spaces Coalition
Care Hospital Inc
Echelon Consulting
Great Lakes Chapter
Hailey Rohan, Realtor / Land Agent
Inland Waters Landscape Services
Keystone Climbing Consultants
Inside Passage Seeds

Miklian’s Outdoor Adventures
Minus Plus
Mark Weick M. Ed. LMHC
Quoted PR
Kunnen Design/Build Inc
Chasing Daylight LLC
On Sacred Ground
Sunde & Co., LLC
Supan Builders
Technical Installation Team LLC
C&S Distribution
Westwind Farm
Greater Realty Inc.
Heron Reach Services
Alan Quigley Designs
North Cascades Conservation Council
Collaborative Fisheries Associates LLC
Wildlife Forever Fund
Collaborative Fisheries Associate LLC
Eagle Outdoor Media
Pacific Home and Garden
CGA Commerce, LLC
Lotus Films

WE DID IT!

Washington Agencies Agree to Provide Additional Time for Public to Comment on Important Commercial Net Pen Management Plan

Earlier this week, we shared the alarming news that Washington state agencies failed to provide the public a fair and adequate opportunity to weigh in on the draft Guidance for Commercial Marine Net Pen Aquaculture, a vitally important and far-reaching plan that will guide how local and state governments manage commercial net pens in Washington's public waters.

Today, after members of the Our Sound, Our Salmon coalition and others called out Washington agencies for failing to provide adequate time and notice of this opportunity to comment, Washington state agencies agreed to extend the comment period deadline from June 21st to August 5th.

This week's efforts and success highlight the important role the Our Sound, Our Salmon coalition continues to play in watchdogging this industry, as we aggressively move forward our campaigns and legal strategies to permanently remove this industry from Puget Sound.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an extension request and helped draw attention from all levels of government to the fundamentally broken process undermining this public review.

The additional 48-days provided by this extension will ensure organizations like Wild Fish Conservancy and other members of the public have time to adequately review the draft guidance and meet the true intent of public review— providing thorough and detailed comments that are informative to agency officials and ensure government decision-making is transparent, evidence-driven, and equitable.

In the coming weeks, we will be sure to share a summary of our primary recommendations to serve as a guide and reference as you develop your own comments on this detailed and technically complex plan. Information on this public comment period is available on the Department of Ecology's website.

Thanks again to everyone who helped to hold our state agencies accountable for correcting this broken public process and ensuring the public has a fair and adequate opportunity to comment on how commercial net pens in Washingotn are managed.

URGENT ACTION ALERT

Submit a Request to Extend the Public Comment Period on Important Commercial Net Pen Management Plan

If you believe the public deserves adequate time and notice to provide input on how commercial net pens operating in public waters are managed, take the important action below today!

Right now, Washington state agencies responsible for regulating the commercial net pen aquaculture industry are holding a public comment period on the draft State Guidance for Commercial Marine Net Pen Aquaculture, a long-lasting and far-reaching plan that will guide how commercial net pens are managed by Washington local and state government officials.

This plan has been in development by the Departments of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources, and Agriculture since 2015, yet the public has only been provided 21-days to review, digest, and provide informed comments on over 100 pages of complex and technical information.

To make matters worse, state agencies have provided little to no public notification of this opportunity so many organizations, elected officials, local businesses, and members of the public with serious concerns over how this industry is managed in Washington state, remain largely unaware of this important opportunity with only six days left to provide input.

In 2019, during the comment period reviewing Cooke Aquaculture’s new steelhead marine net pen proposal, agencies reported unprecedented public participation with over 3,500 unique comments. In this case, agency officials extended the comment period on two separate occasions to ensure the public had adequate opportunity to comment. The draft plan currently being reviewed is more detailed and larger in scope, clearly demonstrating the need for the agencies to extend the current comment period.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

SEND AN EMAIL TO: casey.dennehy@ecy.wa.gov, Casey Dennehy

INCLUDE IN YOUR EMAIL:

• a request for a 90-day extension of the current public comment period on the draft State Guidance for Commercial Marine Net Pen Aquaculture

EXAMPLE:

Casey,

I am writing to request a 90-day extension of the current public comment period on the draft State Guidance for Commercial Marine Net Pen Aquaculture. I only learned about this opportunity to comment today and need more time to review this 100 plus page document and make informed comments.

[Optional: Include a personal reason or concerns for your interest in submitting comments on the management of commercial net pen aquaculture]

Thank you,

[Your Name]

QUESTIONS? REACH OUT!
info@wildfishconservancy.org or call Emma Helverson at 484-788-1174

Independent Biologist, Fish Farm Activist, & BC Wild Salmon Defender Alexandra Morton Just Released her Newest Book

Not on My Watch: How a Renegade Whale Biologist Took on Governments and Industry to Save Wild Salmon

We wanted to share a brand new book by independent biologist Alexandra Morton who has spent decades working alongside First Nations to pioneer the fight against salmon farms throughout B.C.

Her new book details her long journey from killer whale biologist to wild salmon scientist, activist, and watchdog.

Alexandra has been called "the Jane Goodall of Canada" because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia's wild salmon. Her account of that fight is both inspiring in its own right and a roadmap of resistance.

“I am part of the resistance movement against extinction. The movement spans the globe. We are a force of nature. Like a river, we well up, slip around, bore through and dive under obstacles. We don’t stop.”

The Tyee’s recent article, Alexandra Morton’s Book Should Galvanize Action on Salmon, gives an excellent overview of how Alex, a killer whale biologists living a quiet and serene life in BC’s Broughton Archipelago first began to question how the local salmon farms could be impacting wild salmon— an investigation that fundamentally changed the course of her life.

In their article, the publication compares the call to action inspired by the book tantamount to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

“Alexandra Morton has written an infuriating book that, by rights, should create sufficient uproar to bring a rapid end to a perverse experiment to rear Atlantic salmon in the Pacific…

“Alex Morton’s Not on My Watch, like Silent Spring, should touch off a national debate about rights and obligations, and while we’re at it, about decolonization. If Not on My Watch needs to be peer reviewed, those peers should include ordinary people with a thirst for justice and common sense. And every politician should be judged by their reaction to this book.”

But when it comes to peer-reviewed research, Alexandra has written her fair share. In the past two decades, she has authored over 20 published studies investigating the environmental impacts of commercial salmon farms. Her research has clearly documented and exposed the degree to which net pens amplify and spread harmful pathogens like sea lice and viruses from farmed fish to wild populations. She was one of the first to discover, investigate, and inform the public of the prevalence, impact, and origin of the Piscine Reovirus (PRV), a nonnative virus that has been documented in salmon farms from Washington to B.C.

Alexandra’s research has significantly expanded our understanding of the impacts salmon farms pose to wild Pacific salmon and together with her activism, has been a driving force behind coastwide advocacy efforts to end the practice of salmon farming in open waters.

And possibly most inspiring, is Alexandra’s courage and endurance to continue to stand up to the Canadian federal government and the billion dollar aquaculture industry no matter the consequences.

Wild Fish Conservancy first connected with Alexandra over a decade ago after reading her early groundbreaking research connecting sea lice and net pens in the Broughton Archipelago. This connection would lead us to a decade long journey watchdogging, researching, and litigating against the commercial net pen industry in Puget Sound, and eventually to found the Our Sound, Our Salmon campaign in 2017. In short, our campaign and success to date would not be possible without Alex.

A huge congratulations to our friend and colleague Alexandra Morton for continuing to inspire and lead our shared coastwide effort to end commercial salmon farms.

‘Not On my Watch’ is available in eBook, audiobook, or hardcover formats. Click below to learn more about how you can get your hands on a copy of this inspiring new book.