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Pet nets at a salmon farm. (Photo: Cooke Aquaculture)
Washington legislators propose banning Atlantic salmon farming in pet nets
UNITED STATES
Friday, November 17, 2017, 22:40 (GMT + 9)
After Cooke Aquaculture’s farm massive Atlantic salmon escape last summer, the species net-pen farming would be banned in Washington under legislation that will be filed by Senator Kevin Ranker this coming session.
The legislation would allow existing state leases for the eight Atlantic net-pen farms now operating in Washington to run out by 2025 but no permits for new farms would be granted, and no renewals for existing leases would be allowed, The Seattle Times reported.
The bill would also require state agencies that regulate net-pen farming to keep a tighter watch on operations.
Meanwhile, from Cooke Aquaculture it was informed tha company is sure to fight the ban.
On the other hand, State agency managers told lawmakers they are still assessing environmental effects from the spill.
For his part, Rich Doenges, section manager of the water quality program at the state Department of Ecology pointed out more testing is underway to examine the area of the sea bed where the net pen failed, subjecting it to not only the usual fish food and fish excrement but a rain of debris from dead and dying fish.
On the other hand, assistant division manager of the aquatic resources division of the Washington Department of Natural Resources Dennis Clark said the lessons learned already are that the escape needed to be treated as a spill.
In this regard, he stressed that agencies were slow to notify tribes of the fish escape, and took a week to set up a state emergency response.
Representatives of Lummi Nation stressed that: “Legislation is needed to protect the Salish Sea and that there needs to be a stop to breeding invasive pollutants in their waters.
The company initially blamed the failure on unusually high tides from the solar eclipse but backed off that claim, which was unsupported by tide data.
Its managers said the escape does not represent what Cooke is as a company. “We are fish people,” said Michael Szemerda, Cooke’s vice president, saltwater operations. “Growing healthy fish and care for the environment is paramount to us.”
The state Department of Natural Resources holds Cooke’s leases, expiring on a range of dates from March 2022 to December 2025, for its eight farms in four locations.
Related article:
- Environmentalists file suit against Cooke over salmon escape
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