A good review of the work done in the last ten years fighting net pen salmon. Here in Jefferson County, it was work by the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee, which voted to recommend supporting the SMP language that would ban net pens in the county, and followed by the support of all three county commissioners, especially now retired Commissioner Phil Johnson.
Not long ago, some of the loudest political voices railing against the danger of farming Atlantic salmon in the waters of Puget Sound came from within chambers of county governments. Back in 2012, leaders of Island, Whatcom, Jefferson, Skagit and San Juan counties — Democrat and Republican — called for a moratorium on such fish farm operations. They also sought authority to include a ban on them in their respective shoreline management plans. They reached out to executives in state agencies as well as former Gov. Chris Gregoire and, later, Gov. Jay Inslee. They lobbied lawmakers and sought backing of tribes in their quest. “While Washington state missteps with outdated science, local governments desiring to recognize modern science, job, and environmental and public threats, ask that they be permitted to ban these open finfish feedlots before they destroy the native species, their habitats, and the jobs we have worked so diligently to protect,” former Island County Commissioner Angie Homola wrote in a six-page issue paper delivered to Inslee in August 2014. Jerry Cornfield reports. (Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/news/5-counties-warned-state-about-salmon-farming-back-in-2012/
Filed under: Jefferson County, Puget Sound | Tagged: Jefferson County SMP, Net Pens Aquaculture, Puget Sound |
