Welcome   Sponsored By
Subscribe | Register | Advertise | Newsletter | About us | Contact us
   


Environmental groups challenge approval of Cooke's trout farming permit

Click on the flag for more information about United States UNITED STATES
Friday, February 14, 2020, 06:50 (GMT + 9)

Conservation and environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging a January decision by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) permitting Cooke Aquaculture to rear domesticated steelhead in Puget Sound net pens.

The groups claim that state agencies failed to evaluate the scientific evidence that these fish feedlots would harm federally-listed steelhead, salmon, and Southern Resident killer whales, degrade water quality, and damage the overall health of Puget Sound.

A new permit issued by WDFW in January would allow Cooke Aquaculture’s open-water net pens to continue operating in Puget Sound by transitioning from raising non-native Atlantic salmon to a highly-domesticated, partially-sterile form of steelhead. Conservationists warn that these farmed fish would be capable of interbreeding and exchanging pathogens and parasites with endangered wild Puget Sound steelhead.

Left: An image of an operational Atlantic salmon net pen. Right: Cooke Aquaculture's Cypress Island net pen facility after the weekend of August 19th.(Photo: oursound-oursalmon.org)

Following a catastrophic net pen failure and escape of at least 250,000 Atlantic salmon at Cooke’s Cypress Island facility in 2017, Washington state passed a law in 2018 banning Atlantic salmon net pen aquaculture by 2022. With this permit, Cooke will be able to exploit a loophole in the legislative phase-out by raising steelhead rather than Atlantic salmon.

The lawsuit was filed by Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, and Friends of the Earth. It charges that the decision to permit this change in species poses significant environmental risks and that it depends on mitigation measures that will not prevent the well-documented environmental harm this proposal poses to Puget Sound.

“It’s outrageous that once again the State is leaving the oversight of this industry to the public,” says Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “After the Cypress net pen collapsed, our research discovered that nearly every fish that escaped was infected with a pathogenic exotic salmon virus that had been undetected by WDFW and unreported by Cooke. Our litigation has won settlements many times larger than the penalties levied by the State, and the State has left it to us and the pens’ neighbors to detect serious problems. Given this history, it is beyond comprehension that WDFW would grant this permit without first completing a comprehensive assessment of its effects on our salmon, our sound, and our killer whales.”

While the State fined Cooke USD 332,000 for the 2017 collapse, WFC’s lawsuit over those same violations and others uncovered only by WFC brought a USD 2.75 million settlement. Until WFC presented the State with video of Cooke disposing of wild bycatch, WDFW accepted Cooke’s word that they never caught anything but the fish they were rearing.

“We need to be doing everything we can to save our wild salmon and orcas,” said Sophia Ressler, Washington wildlife advocate and staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity and co-counsel on the case. “Fish feedlots simply don’t belong in wild salmon waters. These net pens undermine the crucial work that has gone into restoring native fish runs.”

“Washington state needs to stop giving away our public waters and wild species to private interests—factory fish farms do not belong in Puget Sound,” said Amy van Saun, senior attorney with Center for Food Safety’s Pacific Northwest office, and co-counsel in the case. “Washington officials are accountable not just to industry, but to the people of Washington, who want wild coasts and invaluable species protected from companies that do not respect our special places.”

Washington is the only state on the Pacific coast that permits these facilities. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced plans to transition all open-water industrial aquaculture in British Columbia to land-based facilities by 2025.

The conservation and environmental groups bringing this challenge are represented by Kampmeier & Knutsen, PLLC and by attorneys at the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity.

editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media


 Print


Click to know how to advertise in FIS
MORE NEWS
Japan
Mar 29, 18:30 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - Frozen volume of salmon and trout, both lower than the previous year. Salmon coho Fall
China
Mar 29, 07:40 (GMT + 9):
Southeast Pacific Squid Index: Giant squid (dosidicus gigas)
Canada
Mar 29, 07:10 (GMT + 9):
Cooke Aquaculture Named One of Atlantic Canada’s Top Employers
Indonesia
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - EFishery acquihires Indonesian AI-powered IoT startup, to launch AI brand
France
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Other Media | The Fishing Daily: French Minister Urges Dialogue Over UK Expansion of Marine Protected Areas
Thailand
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Thai Union Collaborates to Achieve Zero Wastewater Discharge and Establish an Industry Learning Center
Russian Federation
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Russia and China Combat Illegal Fishing: Electronic Certificates of Legality for Catches
United Kingdom
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Brexit costs Scotland up to USD 126.09 million-a-year in lost salmon exports
French Guiana
Mar 29, 06:00 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF – 'The French vessel that is to come to patrol Guyana’s waters, saving the country $100M through illegal fishing, is yet to dock here'
Japan
Mar 29, 03:00 (GMT + 9):
Driftnet fishing for salmon and trout starts early. Agreement with Russia
Russian Federation
Mar 29, 01:00 (GMT + 9):
Will the Russian Far East be the country with the most snow crabs in 2025?
Viet Nam
Mar 29, 01:00 (GMT + 9):
Shrimp exports from Ecuador are facing many challenges
Japan
Mar 29, 00:50 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - Faced with the Peruvian decline, fishmeal production in India and Oman is increasing rapidly
Australia
Mar 28, 21:10 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - At WTO, Australia seeks details on India's fisheries plan
Croatia
Mar 28, 21:00 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - Cromaris business results in 2023



Lenguaje
FEATURED EVENTS
  
TOP STORIES
Clipfish challenges in Brazil: Port bureaucracy stops millions worth
Brazil More and more clipfish containers are being stopped in Brazilian ports. - Complicated regulations make market access challenging, to say the least, say Norwegian exporters who risk large losses. Bra...
Catches in the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea
Russia Fed. Situational update as of 03/24/2024 Source: Stockfile FIS Sea of Okhotsk (pollock) According to OSM data in the Sea of Okhotsk, pollock catch (industrial and coastal fisheries) as of March 24, 20...
Productive Development of the Fishing Activity
Peru Fishing Sector Bulletin - January 2024 The landing of hydrobiological resources registered a negative interannual variation of 62.7%, as a result of the lower landing of fishing resources for indirec...
NGO Sues UK Government Over International Fishing Quotas
United Kingdom Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health, has launched legal proceedings over the government’s decision to set fishing opportunities, for more than half UK st...
 

Maruha Nichiro Corporation
Nichirei Corporation - Headquarters
Pesquera El Golfo S.A.
Ventisqueros - Productos del Mar Ventisqueros S.A
Wärtsilä Corporation - Wartsila Group Headquarters
ITOCHU Corporation - Headquarters
BAADER - Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH+Co.KG (Head Office)
Inmarsat plc - Global Headquarters
Marks & Spencer
Tesco PLC (Supermarket) - Headquarters
Sea Harvest Corporation (PTY) Ltd. - Group Headquarters
I&J - Irvin & Johnson Holding Company (Pty) Ltd.
AquaChile S.A. - Group Headquarters
Pesquera San Jose S.A.
Nutreco N.V. - Head Office
CNFC China National Fisheries Corporation - Group Headquarters
W. van der Zwan & Zn. B.V.
SMMI - Sunderland Marine Mutual Insurance Co., Ltd. - Headquarters
Icicle Seafoods, Inc
Starkist Seafood Co. - Headquearters
Trident Seafoods Corp.
American Seafoods Group LLC - Head Office
Marel - Group Headquarters
SalMar ASA - Group Headquarters
Sajo Industries Co., Ltd
Hansung Enterprise Co.,Ltd.
BIM - Irish Sea Fisheries Board (An Bord Iascaigh Mhara)
CEFAS - Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science
COPEINCA ASA - Corporacion Pesquera Inca S.A.C.
Chun Cheng Fishery Enterprise Pte Ltd.
VASEP - Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters & Producers
Gomes da Costa
Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. (Headquarters)
NISSUI - Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. - Group Headquarters
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization - Fisheries and Aquaculture Department (Headquarter)
Hagoromo Foods Co., Ltd.
Koden Electronics Co., Ltd. (Headquarters)
A.P. Møller - Maersk A/S - Headquarters
BVQI - Bureau Veritas Quality International (Head Office)
UPS - United Parcel Service, Inc. - Headquarters
Brim ehf (formerly HB Grandi Ltd) - Headquarters
Hamburg Süd Group - (Headquearters)
Armadora Pereira S.A. - Grupo Pereira Headquarters
Costa Meeresspezialitäten GmbH & Co. KG
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Headquarters)
Mowi ASA (formerly Marine Harvest ASA) - Headquarters
Marubeni Europe Plc -UK-
Findus Ltd
Icom Inc. (Headquarter)
WWF Centroamerica
Oceana Group Limited
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. - Headquarters
Friosur S.A. - Headquarters
Cargill, Incorporated - Global Headquarters
Benihana Inc.
Leardini Pescados Ltda
CJ Corporation  - Group Headquarters
Greenpeace International - The Netherlands | Headquarters
David Suzuki Foundation
Fisheries and Oceans Canada -Communications Branch-
Mitsui & Co.,Ltd - Headquarters
NOREBO Group (former Ocean Trawlers Group)
Natori Co., Ltd.
Carrefour Supermarket - Headquarters
FedEx Corporation - Headquarters
Cooke Inc. - Group Headquarters
AKBM - Aker BioMarine ASA
Seafood Choices Alliance -Headquarter-
Austevoll Seafood ASA
Walmart | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Supermarket) - Headquarters
New Japan Radio Co.Ltd (JRC) -Head Office-
Gulfstream JSC
Marine Stewardship Council - MSC Worldwide Headquarters
Royal Dutch Shell plc (Headquarter)
Genki Sushi Co.,Ltd -Headquarter-
Iceland Pelagic ehf
AXA Assistance Argentina S.A.
Caterpillar Inc. - Headquarters
Tiger Brands Limited
SeaChoice
National Geographic Society
AmazonFresh, LLC - AmazonFresh

Copyright 1995 - 2024 Seafood Media Group Ltd.| All Rights Reserved.   DISCLAIMER