Washington may ban sales of farmed octopus

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Al Bergstein

The Washington State Standard is reporting on a new bill, that will outlaw the sale, possession, transport, and distribution of farmed octopus. The bill was sponsored by our own Representative Adam Bernbaum (D-Port Angeles).

The full story is at the link above, but let me just state my support for this bill. In fact, our family stopped eating octopus and squid years ago, and you should consider not eating it as well.

Octopus have been around on this planet for millions of years longer than us. They appear from many studies to show human like traits and exhibet pain and suffering similar to us. The study, found here from none other than the London School of Economics showed distinct traits of sentience in these creatures along with many other similar creatures, i.e. cuttlefish, crab and squid.

I think that we can easily do without these on our dinner plates. I hope you join me and my wife in supporting House Bill 1608 and the previous bill 1153 that outlawed octopus farming in Washington and the new one that ends the economic market for these creatures.

Filed under: Aquaculture, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Washington State | 1 Comment »

A win for saving Dungeness Spit

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Al Bergstein

                                                                                                    

The battle over keeping industrial aquaculture out of our National Wildlife Refuges, is still being played out in the courts. Recently three environmental organizations have successfully sued to get the US Fish & Wildlife Service to complete a “compatibility determination (CD)” for the industrial operation. The court has ruled that a CD must be performed. It is not clear whether the company must now stop any work in the refuge.

Here is the press release from the plaintiffs. Please consider donating to any of them to help offset the costs of the lawsuit. It’s *our* wildlife refuge at stake.

In 2023, Protect the Peninsula’s Future, Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat, and Beyond Pesticides sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for its failure to conduct a compatibility determination (CD) for a proposed industrial shellfish operation at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR). The case is being reviewed by the U.S. Federal District Court in Tacoma. 

USFWS regulations state that for any project on or near one of its refuges, a CD must be written.  These cases are not unusual, and the Dungeness case is especially important because if the case is lost, industrial shellfish operations might be free to open at other Refuges. 

Last year the Court ruled the case should proceed because it is clear the USFWS must write a CD.  

The industrial shellfish operator – the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (JST) – sought to moot the plaintiffs’ case due to potential financial impact to the JST.  The JST received various agency permits to plant 80,000 non-native oyster spat (larvae) in large plastic bags to be anchored to the substrate in the refuge area on 34 acres. The then manager of the DNWR had determined the shellfish operation was incompatible with the mission of the refuge, but higher ups in the agency overruled her and refused to write a CD. In the meantime, the JST started planting oyster spat. 

The federal court allowed the JST to present arguments against the plaintiffs’ suit.   

On 15 May 2025, the court responded in our favor.  The case will not be mooted; the USFWS must follow its regulations.   

From the Court documents:

“Compliance with the statutory procedures in the Refuge Act is undoubtably a  public right that safeguards environmental protection. 

Only the public right to administrative compliance with the Refuge Act procedural requirement to complete a compatibility determination and/or require a special permit are ripe for adjudication. 

Drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiffs, Jamestown appears to have planted seeds after it was aware that it was probable the Service would conduct a compatibility determination. 

Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED that Jamestown’s motion to dismiss, Dkt  44, is DENIED. “

The plaintiffs now wait for the Court’s final ruling against the USFWS, ordering it to write a CD. 

Filed under: Aquaculture, Clallam County, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Olympic Peninsula, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Risk Specific Farm Salmon Pathogens (new)

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Al Bergstein

Just in from Alexandra Morton, the leading net pen researcher in the world. Now the science gets even clearer as follows:

Just published! In-depth review of the risk specific farm salmon pathogens causes BC salmon populations. It’s no coincidence the 1st generation of chum that went to sea after salmon farms were removed from the Discovery Islands are returning in larger numbers than we have seen in a long time. We explain why some DFO fish farm science cannot be relied on if you want wild salmon. Huge thanks to my incredible co-authors! This entire edition of Science Advances examines the real cost of salmon farming… https://www.science.org/toc/sciadv/10/42..

Contents | Science Advances 10, 42

Our local representative from Taylor Shellfish has long trashed her in public and is always given a free podium at local Marine Resources Committee meetings to promote his opinions which have never been based in science, but what appears to many as simple character assassination (he has stated numerous times she is not a “real” scientist). The next time you buy shellfish, remember that Taylor Shellfish has been at the forefront of working to discredit her work. Because of the work of businesses attacking her like that, it took years longer to deal with the problems our salmon are facing.

Filed under: Aquaculture, Endangered Species, Environmental Science, Salmon | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Tribe poised to co-manage Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Al Bergstein

In a move that comes as environmentalists sue the Department of Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) for not doing a “compatibility determination” on potential impacts to allowing an industrial aquaculture farm (run for profit by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe), FWS appears ready to ink an agreement to co-manage the Wildlife Refuge with the tribe.

Does it make sense for an entity that seeks to financially profit from the use of a federal resource, to be given co-management powers of that resource?

While this blog recognizes the importance of the work that the Jamestown have done for environmental restoration projects on the north Olympic Peninsula, there has been sustained concern from environmental watchdogs about the idea of turning the waters of the refuge into an industrial site, with subsequent conversion of the benthic layer and the waters above it into essentially a shellfish farm. Once this is done, there is no returning it to the way it is, as the profit motive will make it virtually impossible to end the work, as we have seen across the south Sound as shellfish aquaculture has turned numerous virgin bays into net covered shores with diesel engines dredging the geoduck farms at all hours of the night (low tides usually are late at night in the winter when harvesting would be easiest).

It is worth noting that the Refuge was established with the following goals, delineated on the front page of its web site:

Recognizing the importance of the fertile habitats, President Woodrow Wilson established the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge on January 20, 1915, as a refuge, preserve, and breeding ground for native birds. Many of these birds feed by diving into the shallows for fish. Today the graceful arc of Dungeness Spit continues to protect nutrient-rich tide flats for migrating shorebirds in spring and fall; a quiet bay with calm waters for wintering waterfowl; an isolated beach for harbor seals and their pups; and abundant eelgrass beds for young salmon and steelhead nurseries.

Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge | Visit Us – Activities | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov)

It is hard to understand how commercial shellfish aquaculture could coexist into preserving native birds who dive into these same waters to feed. Currently the FWS bans even frisbees or kites on the spit as it apparently is not good for the birds. There is a long list of banned behavior that seems innocuous elsewhere.

In 2018, this blog reported on the concerns that were being raised by the staff of the refuge itself, in it, we reported that the applicants have asked for permission to place approx. 150,000 of “on bottom” oyster bags on the central west side of the bay, in approximately 34 acres of the tide flats 1141 acres of the inner spit. While I understand that current numbers of this amount are not at these levels, the long-term goal of this number likely has not changed. This is not the small scale subsistence aquaculture that currently exists in Sequim Bay by tribal members. This will require machinery, boats and staff to harvest these amounts. This could be viewed as the proverbial “camel nose in the tent” which likely will be expanded over time with very little discussion. The applicants propose to raise non-native oysters. To be clear, a significant number of cultivated oysters in the Salish Sea are non-native, so this was not a surprise, nor is it an issue of great concern.

Also noted in that earlier blog entry, as stated by the Department of Interior letter, “The shores and tidelands in this area provide some of the most important wildlife habitat and supports the highest density of waterfowl and shorebirds within the refuge….These shorelines also support one of the largest Brandt haul out sites in the state of Washington….Shorebird densities are highest within the action area and the adjacent lagoon on Graveyard Spit.”

“Human-caused wildlife disturbance and habitat loss are two of the most pervasive threats to shorebird and waterfowl use of the Salish Sea…. very little information is available on entrapment resulting from aquaculture structures.”

The letter also referenced that, “In 2016, a die-off of approximately 1000 Rhinoceros Auklets on Protection Island coincided with a significant reduction in the abundance of sand lance in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.” 

Herring also spawn at the west end of Dungeness Harbor and the Department of Interior raised questions about protecting Strait of Juan de Fuca herring, which have been designated “critical” (as in critically low).  Sand Lance and Surf Smelt spawning grounds are also found in the area of the application. These species have been identified as “Washington Species of Greatest Conservation Need within the State Wildlife Action Plan (WDFW 2015).” A worry related to this is that these spawning fish will be competing with the oysters for plankton. A failure to find enough food could lead to a significant reduction in the survival rates. There is no known mitigation for this, other than limiting the size and scope of the project.

Additionally, Interior pointed out that a 1996 scientific study found that some shorebirds significantly avoided areas used for aquaculture in a California bay.

This shoreline has also been designated “Natural” in the Critical Areas Ordinance, as far back as 1976. That designation limits activities to those that preserve the national features unchanged. One would assume that the tidelands are also part of that designation. But of course, the waters of the Wildlife Reserve are apparently not part of the county shoreline ordinance.

It is important to note that the applicants themselves have noted in a 2003 report that “wild birds are the second most important source of FC on a year-round basis. It is especially important in winter, when their load approaches 1/2 of the measured marine water input.” It would seem to the average person that putting aquaculture into a bird reserve is by its very nature going to create a tension between the animals that are present and creating the problem and the desire to harvest shellfish for profit.

It is certainly reasonable for the applicants to want to return to aquaculture in the Bay, however the scale is being significantly increased. And now the applicants themselves are being given co-management of the very location that they intend to make a commercial farm. If it wasn’t the Tribe but some standard for-profit company, I’m sure that every environmental organization in the country would be joining in to stop this, but since it is the Tribe, only a couple of environmental organizations have been bold enough to challenge the FWS in court. And they appear to be winning. Years ago, I had a drink with the head of the Western Region of NOAA. I asked him why they kept doing things that required environmental groups to sue them, and why they just didn’t do the right thing to begin with. He laughed and told me that NOAA was a big government organization and had many different perspectives inside it. He welcomed lawsuits that forced them to do the right thing as he couldn’t possibly hope that all his employees were in line with its goals.

The FWS has a problematic role with regards to the Refuge. According to a 2022 article written by Kevin Washburn and N. William Hines, Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Iowa College of Law:

“The congressional direction in the Fish and Wildlife Act is to ensure “the fish, shellfish, and wildlife
resources of the Nation make a material contribution to our national economy and food supply . . . [and] the health, recreation, and well-being of our citizens.”

Congress recognized “that such resources are a living, renewable form of national wealth that is capable of being maintained and greatly increased with proper management, but equally capable of destruction if neglected or unwisely exploited.” (emphasis mine)

As a practical matter, however, one of the most significant challenges for FWS is meeting the
significant demands of the Endangered Species Act.”

The co-management of the reserve can only legally include the following:

“…Endangered Species Programs, Education Programs, Environmental Contaminants Programs, Wetland and Habitat Conservation Restoration, Fish Hatchery Operations, and National Wildlife Refuge Operation and Maintenance. See List of Programs Eligible for Inclusion in Funding Agreements Negotiated with Self-governance Tribes by Interior Bureaus Other than the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Fiscal
Year 2016. Microsoft Word – [14] Washburn – Camera-Ready (case.edu)

The rather ill defined “Northwest Wildlife refuge operations…” in the above paragraph is a concern. The document referenced above goes into considerable detail on the issues raised in co-management of FWS and other agencies. It is beyond the scope of this blog to identify all of them.

Science has learned a lot about the environment since the time when the State originally allowed the use in this location. In many other locations we have decided that the tradeoff of commercial activity is outweighed by a newer appreciation of the value of the natural landscape for a variety of species.  It is up to all of us to question our elected officials and bureaucrats, not the applicants, as to why they believe that this is in all our best interests, when we so clearly have set this aside this location for wildlife protection and enhancement. The applicants have every right to apply. It is up to our elected and bureaucratic staffs to make the call for the lands and species we all enjoy and want to protect.

This blog has long supported the work of the JamesTown S’Kallam as they have led environmental protection on the Olympic Peninsula for many decades. We have supported their right to industrial geoduck operations, small scale oyster farming, their rights to their share of the salmon of the state. In this one instance we are questioning whether putting this farm inside a tiny refuge that has decades of protection, as we all struggle to save our seabirds, is the right call. It is not about their rights, it is about the location. Can the State not find and trade suitable other locations for the Tribe to establish, especially since the tribe itself has raised concerns about the viability of the location for aquaculture on the scale they are planning? Then the issue of co-management is a non issue. Then they would be imminently qualified to co-manage the refuge.

Filed under: Aquaculture, Clallam County, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Olympic Peninsula, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: , , , , | 10 Comments »

Aquaculture Continues Its Global Rise

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Al Bergstein

A recent article in Sherwood titled, “Aquaculture is Making History” (subtitled “We now farm more fish than we catch”) spoke to the amazing growth of aquaculture worldwide. While the good news is that Americans, the most morbidly obese country on earth, are eating 5 lbs. more seafood per year than they had in the 1990s, the downside to all this is that farmed fish are perhaps the most destructive farming imaginable. Along with land-based farming’s effect on the planet, including the destruction of rain forests, the oceans have witnessed an across-the-board destruction in wild places needed to support wild fish and other wild seafood we eat.

Note: Total aquaculture production, which includes algae and aquatic plants like seaweed, overtook wild fishing efforts more than a decade ago (the more recent milestone excludes sea plants).

From the destruction of mangrove forests along the coasts of tropical waters, where the shrimp farms destroy miles of fish nurseries for the bland shrimp we eat, to the conversion of hundreds of miles of virgin shoreline for the monoculture of various bivalves like geoduck, from the fish farms off the coast of South America to the net pens in Sweden, Norway and Canada creating vectors for disease, we are in the process of radically altering our seas. Eating wild fish is the best thing you can do to stem this trend. Avoiding farmed shrimp and salmon makes an economic statement to those engaged in it.

Salmon in particular is a huge problem. While the global community outside of Alaska have decimated salmon runs, salmon net pens continue to provide a growing number of fish to the American market. Salmon has now met the demand of shrimp in our diets.

This rise in farmed salmon, while good for our diets, poses the huge threats to wild salmon, who of course swim past the nets to get a free lunch and then contract whatever disease is happening to the confined fish inside the nets. Think this is just supposition? When net pens were recently banned and removed in specific Canadian waters, the next years that fish that had migrated past since the removal of the pens the runs were huge and healthy, showing virtually no signs of sea lice or disease. Sea lice were huge problems for the net pen industry and attached themselves to wild fish swimming nearby.

What is to be done? Even the Nature Conservancy recently hired an ex-aquaculture industry person who unequivocally supports fish farming globally. Are you really going to fund such an organization?

It is worth noting that the rise in aquaculture also supports seaweed and other plant-based farming. With a push by NOAA (who officially sees the Puget Sound as worthy of turning into an aquaculture farm) to open seaweed farms here, the possibility of even more waters being turned off limits to all of us so floating farms and shorelines can continue to be converted to industrial use is very real.

In 1999 & 2000 the Governor of Washington State and the shellfish industry opened the floodgates to industrial geoduck farming, given that the Chinese market was exploding with a crazy belief in the aphrodisiac properties of eating geoduck. What was never discussed in that law was “how much is enough? When do we say we have converted enough shoreline to aquaculture?” The industry influences our rural politicians by contributing to their campaigns and seeds their people into environmental organizations both by sitting on their councils, and donating to their “recovery” efforts, as long as it does not impact their ability to make money. In discussions with environmental organizations about this very issue, all but one of them would consider talking up against aquaculture, because they all rely on grants from the industry to support their non-profit work.

Tribes have shifted into commercial aquaculture, some doing good work in raising relatively benign fish such as sablefish (aka black cod) but have also taken on extremely controversial acts such as pressing to put a large-scale aquaculture farm inside the federally protected Dungeness Spit. While scientists from the Spit were threatened with their jobs by national managers (during the Trump presidency), local leaders and environmentalists were unwilling to criticize the tribes for any reason whatsoever.

All this means that while some environmental organizations may be crowing about the growth of aquaculture to feed a hungry planet, the increasing threats to our seas and wild fish continue unabated.

Read the whole article on Sherwood and sign up for their newsletter.

Sherwood News

Note: Some of you regular readers may note that The News has not been publishing as much lately. While I have made an effort to keep up, bad news has been in much greater volume than good news, and I strive to find positive environmental stories to share with you, along with efforts by concerned citizens to protect our fragile and decreasing natural resources. So, my feelings are “less is more”. I’ll continue to bring you the News as it matters. Today’s article I felt was more educational in nature, helping put in perspective the larger forces that are affecting our region. Have a great 4th of July. Our democracy means we have voices that can dissent against this wholesale destruction and not find ourselves in a “re-education” camp, or worse. This November, vote for candidates who actually deliver and not just talk. There are too many of the talk, not deliver on both sides. We will be posting our picks for true environmental candidates in an upcoming post. Thanks again for reading.

Filed under: Aquaculture, environmental education, Environmental Science, fisheries | Tagged: | 4 Comments »

Net Pens, Dead? Don’t count on it. Thank Hilary Franz

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Al Bergstein

From coastalwatershedinstitute.org: There’s been a bit of buzz about the status of steelhead net pens in the US/Washington state Salish Sea over the last three months or so. Most recently, Cooke Aquaculture withdrew their appeal of the recent decision upholding Washington state DNR’s ban of net pens on state aquatic lands. This has been touted as, quote, ‘the end of the fight’ against net pens in Washington waters (DNR March 2024).

Except? It absolutely *isn’t* the end of the fight. While Hillary Franz, the current Washington state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Public Lands Commissioner, made the decision to ban net pens over a year ago, the DNR hasn’t taken any action to codify this rule into agency law (DNRa). Codifying the decision is a three-step process (DNR b). And while other DNR rules have sailed thru this codifying process over the same time period, the net pen decision? Hasn’t budged.

Hillary Franz is not running for re-election. She will no longer be DNR Lands Commissioner after the November elections.

In it’s current state, the net pen ban can be rescinded with a literal stroke of a pen by the next Lands Commissioner. Industry is laying plans for just this. At least one Commissioner candidate has made very clear statements supporting net pens. And Cooke Aquaculture and the Jamestown Tribe, collaborators on a steelhead net pen plan for the central Strait of Juan de Fuca/ Port Angeles Harbor, are now giving ‘informal’ presentations to local groups to try and garner support of future in water net pen projects-including Port Angeles harbor. This isn’t a ‘proposal’. It’s a *plan*. And they’re not asking-they are *telling* folks what is going to happen. They’re doing so quietly now-but will be full throttle after the Washington State DNR Commissioner election is over, and the new Commissioner is in place.

What can you do?

1. PUSH Washington DNR to codify the current net pen ban rule immediately;

2. Confirm early and repeatedly the position of prospective future incoming Washington State Lands Commissioner on in-water net pens, and make sure they also have your input and a clear position on net pens, and;

3. Make sure to let local aquaculture leaders and resource agency managers and officials know that upland contained is the only farmed salmon alternative for our country and state (one very successful operation is already in full swing in BC-link to their information is below).

For those that are new to the topic, here is an excellent link summarizing truth about open net pens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4fVPt1V3sw .

More information, links, and key citations are here:

DNR a. netpen rulemaking https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/em_rule_netpen_cr101.pdf

DNR b.https://www.dnr.wa.gov/rule-making….

DNR 2024. https://www.dnr.wa.gov/…/commissioner-franz-fight…

Mapes 2022. https://www.seattletimes.com/…/state-supreme-court-oks…/

Blue Star Foods model farm module designed to grow 100 Tonnes of Steelhead Salmon per year: https://bluestarfoods.com/little-cedar-falls/

Upland Net Pens get fish into tanks out of the sea.

https://olyopen.com/2018/02/01/norwegian-company-to-build-large-land-based-salmon-farm-in-belfast-maine-republican-journal/?amp=1

Filed under: Aquaculture, Clallam County, Environmental Activism, Environmental Protection, fishing | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

Salmon-spilling company ends fight to resume farming at Puget Sound sites (KUOW)

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Al Bergstein

Finally. Thanks to everyone all over the Sound that worked so hard to end this bad business.

The company behind a massive spill of Atlantic salmon in 2017 has thrown in the towel on its efforts to keep farming fish at two sites in Puget Sound.

Cooke Aquaculture withdrew its appeal Friday of a 2022 Washington Department of Natural Resources order to shut down its floating farms off Bainbridge Island, just west of Seattle, and Hope Island in Skagit County.

Read the whole story and support KUOW here!

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Sound, Salmon | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off on Salmon-spilling company ends fight to resume farming at Puget Sound sites (KUOW)

Open Letter to the Jefferson County Commissioners regarding Shoreline Master Program

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Al Bergstein

Commissioners:
Having spent eight years in the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee including a number of years as it’s chairman, along with volunteering hundreds of hours in helping write the existing SMP, I am urging you to require standard conditional use permits for future geoduck applications.

There is currently no real permitting nor oversight on geoduck operations in the county, with the county relying on the State and Federal Government to do whatever it feels necessary to manage and control these operations. We have no idea how much shoreline is being handed over to commercial operations, what damage is being done, nor do we as tax payers of this county have the opportunity to speak in favor or not of new operations that will lock up our shorelines for generations to come. It’s really an outrageous situation.

I join the residents of Squamish Harbor and Discovery Bay in calling for a fair process for evaluating future geoduck proposals. We urge the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to require, in its update of Jefferson County’s SMP, a standard Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process for all future applications for geoduck cultivation, whether for “new,” “expanded,” or “converted” tideland.

I personally, along with others in this county have seen many consequences of geoduck operations, including: illegal harvesting (documented and admitted); unauthorized expansions; hundreds of loose tubes strewn in shallow water and on beaches; hazards to recreation; underwater loose tubes of unknowable quantity; marine life trapped in nets; harvest operations in native eelgrass; vanishing eelgrass and sand dollar populations; beaching a boat in and trampling a fish stream; and many more practices of environmental concern.

The late Michael Adams, who chaired the MRC for years and was a small time commercial oyster farmer, documented numerous illegal intrusions onto his beaches. Often these were done at night and he told me he had been threatened by the people engaged in it.

Previous legal cases have gone against the industry time and time again.

For over two decades, citizens have been ignored by Washington State Agencies and most Counties as shellfish aquaculture lobbying paved the way for the unlimited proliferation of this industrial conversion of our shorelines. Citizens have had to go to court to get their voices heard. Many of the cases against Taylor, for example were won by the plaintiffs.

A case in 2019 brought against the Army Corp of Engineers was very instructive on this issue. The Corps lost the case. Federal Judge Lasnik stated in his findings that the Army Corps of Engineers in our Corp district, “The Court finds that the Corps has failed to adequately consider the impacts of commercial shellfish aquaculture activities authorized by NWP 48, that its conclusory findings of minimal individual and cumulative impacts are not supported by substantial evidence in the record, and that its EA does not satisfy the requirements of NEPA and the governing regulations.”

While citizens have been pointing out the limited scientific findings that the Corps and the shellfish industry have used to gain permitting, the Judge noted: “There is no discussion of the impacts on other types of aquatic vegetation, on the benthic community, on fish, on birds, on water quality/chemistry/structures, or on substrate characteristics. There is no discussion of the subtidal zone. There is no discussion regarding the impacts of plastic use in shellfish aquaculture and only a passing reference to a possible side effect of pesticide use.”

So a Federal Judge has found that the ’science’ being presented to you the county representatives, is apparently a fraud. Internal records surfaced during this court case actually showed that the Corps had purposely removed key findings supporting the plaintiff’s case from their documents before sending them to the court in discovery.

This is a map of existing shellfish farms in other counties to the south of us. The number, I understand, is over 700. Is this what we want Jefferson County to look like?

Why A Standard CUP is Important

The three most important features of a standard CUP are: 

• The decision is made by a neutral hearing examiner;

• The decision is made only after a public hearing before the hearing examiner; and

• The decision is made based only on the record, both written and testimonial.


These features ensure that all parties are treated fairly and that all parties can see and contest the information presented. A standard CUP avoids the suspicion that decisions are influenced by private conversations and unsupported assertions.


For more than two years, the requirement for a standard CUP for all future geoduck applications was in the Planning Commission’s draft, which was preliminarily approved by the state Department of Ecology (ECY). The same CUP requirement is in Kitsap and Clallam county SMPs, as approved in final form by ECY. Jefferson lies in close shoreline-proximity to these counties, sharing Hood Canal, Discovery Bay, and other waters of the Salish Sea. Notably, all of Hood Canal, including its tidelands and shoreline, and most of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca are Shorelines of Statewide Significance, under the state Shoreline Management Act. By adopting the standard CUP process, Jefferson County will harmonize with Kitsap and Clallam counties in how they review commercial geoduck operations in our common waters.

Why the Planning Commission Recommendation is Misguided

In late October 2023, a new recommendation was proposed, which, after an initial stalemate, was adopted by the Planning Commission in November (by a 5-4 vote). It requires a standard CUP only for “new” geoduck operations. It prescribes a “discretionary” CUP for “expansions” and “conversions” of existing shellfish tidelands. A discretionary CUP allows county staff to make the decision, after public comment but with no public hearing. Alternatively, staff, in its sole discretion, may (but need not, for any reason) refer the case to the hearing-examiner process.


This scheme is arbitrary and discriminatory. It favors existing shellfish farmers over newcomers and over the citizenry, even though the environmental effects are identical. It is subject to evasion, for example by first farming oysters on a new plot and then converting to geoducks. Also, of great concern: all (or possibly nearly all) existing shellfish farmers in Jefferson County are operating with no county shoreline permit whatsoever, so there is no baseline. The County simply doesn’t know how many acres might be converted or expanded under a discretionary CUP.


Advocates for the Planning Commission recommendation like to argue that the industry is already subject to federal, state, and local oversight, so the need for county regulation is lessened. I and others have first-hand experience with federal oversight, and it is entirely lacking. A citizen can’t even get basic information about a shellfish farm without filing a FOIA request, which can take a year for a response. It took more than two years to find out what happened to very well documented harvesting violations. (Answer: the violations were admitted but there was no consequence.) Other state and other local regulations relate to different subjects.

As County Commissioners, you need not decide whether commercial geoduck farms are “good” or “bad.” Rather, it’s the job of the BOCC to adopt a fair process for making such a decision on a particular application for a particular site. That process is the standard CUP process, and we urge you to require it for all future applications for geoduck cultivation.

Al Bergstein
Former Chair of the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee and former member of the SMP citizens advisory committee for Jefferson County
Port Townsend

Filed under: Aquaculture, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Government, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula, Shellfish | 6 Comments »

Jefferson County shorelines needs your help now

Posted on January 12, 2024 by Al Bergstein

Jefferson County is updating its Shoreline Master Plan and is being heavily lobbied by the shellfish industry to allow for the approval of additional geoduck farms in our tidelands without public input.  Neighboring counties–Kitsap and Clallam–allow for public input but Jefferson hasn’t yet committed to this.  Find out what’s at stake as this multimillion dollar export business looks to expand here.   Local environmental activists will talk about their work and how you can get involved.

With a growing multimillion dollar marked in Asia, the shellfish industry is eyeing Jefferson County’s tidelands for increased geoduck cultivation. Geoduck cultivation involves the intense use of plastics—some seven miles and eleven tons of tubing per acre.  Each tube fosters a wholly unnatural density of the large clams that are then “harvested” using hydraulic hoses to liquify the tidelands down to three feet.  Then the whole process starts over again.  Geoduck cultivation raises many environmental concerns, among them: competition for marine nutrients, displacement of tideland marine life, and plastics pollution.  Sierra Club is asking the Jefferson County Commissioners to require a thorough review and public input before issuing any permits to farm geoducks.  A standard “Conditional Use Permit”, as is required in neighboring Kitsap and Clallum counties, should be the norm.  

 When:  Thursday January 18, 7PM on Zoom

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002Hy4YAAS

Filed under: Admiralty Inlet, Aquaculture, Environmental Activism, Environmental Protection, Events, Jefferson County | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

ACTION item: Stopping the industrialization of the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Al Bergstein

Time after time, citizens have had to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for failing to protect the animals and their habitat as required by law, in areas that the nation has recognized as critical to preserve as habitat and for public recreation. Now USFWS is willing to allow, for private profit, the industrialization of refuge lands for shellfish operations. 

 

>>Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland that the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge lease for industrial aquaculture must be rescinded.

 

In spite of demonstrated harm to birds, salmon, forage fish, and shellfish, and a recommendation by the National Marine Fisheries Service that “an alternative site be identified in a location that results in less potential impacts to wildlife that is more appropriate for aquaculture and meets the goals of the tribe,” USFWS approved a lease for an industrial oyster farm inside the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. This decision, which is in violation of the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, must be reversed. 

 

In the words written of an October 2022 USFWS internal memorandum, “Forgoing a compatibility determination in order to facilitate incompatible commercial activities by any entity would be a subversion of the fundamental requirements in the [USFWS] Improvement Act.” 

 

We are targeting the most recent case of the USFWS’s permissiveness in one of the country’s most pristine nature lands, the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge in the small rural town of Sequim Washington, just below the Olympic National Park. In this case, the shellfish corporation raises shellfish on other sites. They do not need to operate in a national refuge and deny wildlife their feeding and breeding grounds. 

 

The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge was created by Executive Order in 1915 by Woodrow Wilson, directing the area to be set aside as a “refuge, preserve and breeding ground for native birds and prohibits any disturbance of the birds within the reserve.” The front page of the Refuge website states: “Pets, bicycles, kite flying, Frisbees, ball-playing, camping, and fires are not permitted on the Refuge as they are a disturbance for the many migrating birds and other wildlife taking solitude on the Refuge.” With this level of concern, it is counterintuitive to allow destructive industrial aquaculture.  

 

Industrial shellfish aquaculture is known to reduce or eliminate eelgrass with the use of pesticides. Shellfish aquaculture also involves large-scale use of plastics—PVC tubes and plastic netting—that are hazardous to marine organisms and can trap and entangle wildlife. Commercial shellfish aquaculture is a major industry in Washington state that has significant impacts on the nearshore marine environments, which provide essential habitat for many species, including invertebrates, fish (including herring and salmon), and birds (migratory and shorebirds). 

 

Among the negative impacts of this project are: 50% reduction in bird primary feeding grounds; plastic oyster bags that exclude the probing shorebird flocks from feeding deeply into the substrate, entrap fish and birds, add macro- and micro-plastic bits to the sediment throughout the refuge, and shift the benthic community composition; diminishing of the ecological benefits provided by eelgrass to threatened fish and birds, such as nourishment and cover from predators; and increased algal blooms that will leave a graveyard of dead oysters. These detrimental effects to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge are NOT minimal. Decisionmakers should not place financial benefits to the corporation above the long-term and cumulative impacts to the refuge. Half of the world’s 10,000-odd bird species are in decline. One in eight faces the threat of extinction. 2.9 billion breeding adult birds have been lost from the United States and Canada in only 50 years. 

 

Let’s raise our national voice and try and stop this refuge destruction with public persuasion. This is a public space we pay to protect. For more information, check out the Daily News post from last August, “Groups Sue U.S. Interior Department to Protect the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge from Industrial Aquaculture.” 

 

This action follows a lawsuit filed by three environmental organizations against the U.S. Department of Interior for failing to protect the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge from industrial aquaculture. The groups, including Protect the Peninsula’s Future, Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat, and Beyond Pesticides, filed their complaint in the U.S. Western District Court of Washington State. The complaint states that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Department of Interior, must “take action that is required by the Refuge Improvement Act and conduct a compatibility determination and require a special use permit for a proposed industrial aquaculture use” that will abut and impact the Refuge. The plaintiffs are represented by the Seattle, WA law firm of Bricklin and Newman LLP. 

 

>>Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland that the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge lease for industrial aquaculture must be rescinded.

 

We are focusing this Action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Secretary of State.  

 

Thank you for your active participation and engagement!

 

Please take this ACTION and circulate it to your family, friends and colleagues.

https://secure.everyaction.com/WMJxQmNjDUqarx4FmLzUrA2

also, to support the lawsuit, you can send checks to:

Send a check to: PPF, POBox 421, Sequim WA 98382 or through PayPal: https://www.protectpeninsulasfuture.org/donate/

        PPF is a federal recognized 501c3 non-profit.

Filed under: Aquaculture, Clallam County, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Environmental Science, Olympic Peninsula, Sea Life, Shellfish, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: , | Comments Off on ACTION item: Stopping the industrialization of the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge

Canada Shuts Down 15 Fish Farms in B.C., Citing Risks to Wild Salmon – Maritime Executive

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Al Bergstein

The pressure is building on Canada to end the use of net pens that effect wild salmon runs. A huge win for Alexandra Morton and her supporters, but more importantly, for the wild salmon runs which, as the article points out, are in serious decline.

After years of concerns over the impact of aquaculture on wild sockeye salmon, Canada’s fisheries department has decided not to renew the operating permits of 15 Atlantic salmon farms in an environmentally sensitive area of British Columbia. 

Canada Shuts Down 15 Fish Farms in B.C., Citing Risks to Wild Salmon (maritime-executive.com)

Filed under: Aquaculture, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, fisheries, Government | Comments Off on Canada Shuts Down 15 Fish Farms in B.C., Citing Risks to Wild Salmon – Maritime Executive

The battle of sea lice and salmon goes on

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Al Bergstein

An update on the battle to remove fish farms from Canada. The industry denies it’s a problem here, 100 miles south…

  • Increased sea lice infestations, scientists say are caused by salmon farms, threaten the already-vulnerable wild Pacific salmon populations in western Canada, worrying conservationists and First Nations.
  • Three First Nations in the region are now deciding on the future of open net pen Atlantic salmon farms dotting the channels and waterways in and around their territories. They hope their decisions will pave the way to protect wild salmon, a culturally important species.
  • So far, ten farms have been closed and the future of seven farms are to be decided this year, in 2023.
  • The impact of the closure of the farms on sea lice and wild salmon populations is still unclear, say scientists, and more time to monitor the data is needed.

As sea lice feast away on dwindling salmon, First Nations decide the fate of salmon farms (mongabay.com)

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Salish Sea, Endangered Species, Environmental Protection, Environmental Science, First Nations, fisheries, Government | Comments Off on The battle of sea lice and salmon goes on

Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in Northwest waters – Salish Current

Posted on December 20, 2022 by OlyOpen

There is so much more to this issue. Are we really wanting to trade off our waters for animal feed or fertilizer? Better speak up now.


Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It’s gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Their harvests could be sold for human food, animal feed or fertilizer. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)  

See also: Can kelp farming help save our marine environment? Richard Arlin Walker reports.

(Salish Current, 10/7/22) 

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Salish Sea, Around the Sound, Government, legislation | Comments Off on Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in Northwest waters – Salish Current

Cooke Aquaculture files appeal of DNR decision

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Al Bergstein

As this blog stated over a week ago, the saga of net pens on the Olympic Peninsula is not over yet. 

Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, LLC has filed an appeal of the state Department of Natural Resources’ denial of its leases for steelhead farms in state waters.

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/cooke-aquaculture-files-appeal-of-dnr-decision/

 

Filed under: Aquaculture, Clallam County, Olympic Peninsula, Port Angeles | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Net Pen Aquaculture Industry Targets DNR’s Hilary Franz

Posted on November 27, 2022 by Al Bergstein

In a series of articles across multiple platforms, the net pen aquaculture industry and their allies have targeted Washington State’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner Hilary Franz for attack and lawsuits after her controversial decision to end net pen aquaculture of Atlantic salmon in Puget Sound and Hood Canal.

Posts on LinkedIn (which does not allow critical rebuttal) by Jeanne McKnight, a PR specialist that works for the aquaculture industry, along with articles in SeaWestNews about the benefits of net pen aquaculture point to a new attack on Franz by the industry. Past Chairman of the Pacific Aquaculture Caucus Peter Becker also weighs in with his opinion in a long reply to McKnight’s original post.

The articles and posts point out that Franz came from a law degree background and not the “fisheries science industry”, so as not to be capable of deciding for an industry that has long been in the driver’s seat regarding influencing the regulators charged with regulating them. Cooke did an excellent job in the past of dividing to conquer the regulators by helping legislate multiple agencies to regulate multiple aspects of each farm, ending in a fiasco of collapsing nets due to poor maintenance and escaped fish. Franz rightly decided that Cooke should be banned from the near shore waters and shorelines of the State because of that incompetence. Her agency is charged with protecting those wild stock resources (along with other agencies).

The articles also raise smear tactics based on her decision by saying she ‘cherry picked’ the tribes in support of her decision (not even notifying the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe who are partnering with Cooke Aquaculture for a sable fish net pen in Port Angeles harbor). This blog believes that Franz will exempt the Jamestown in the near future and allow them to create net pens for black cod as long as Cooke is not part of the business model.

All these are desperate tactics by an industry under attack both here and in Canada. The long-time work of Dr. Alexandra Morton in Canada, raised scientifically valid hypothesis and proofs over and over again that the industry is partially if not fully responsible for the collapse of wild stocks in many rivers in Western British Columbia while the industry takes credit for 97% of Canadian salmon produced being farm raised (as reported in an article in the industry journal SeaWestNews.) That statistic can also be read to mean that since farmed salmon have arrived 97% of wild salmon have vanished. The question is why is that statistic true? Alexandra Mortons’ research, among others such as Dr. Lawrence Dill, point to the reasons that the industry would rather ignore. Viruses from the farms as well as sea lice coming from the pens that are co-located in passages that the wild salmon have to traverse. The industry here claims that sea lice are not the problem that they are in B.C.

The reality is that this issue is not over yet, though Commissioner Franz’ decision (political though it may be) is not without the possibility of challenge in the courts. Washington State Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (not DNR) having lost a limited case ruling in the Washington State Supreme Court in a unanimous decision that only dealt with whether or not the permit for Cooke had met SEPA standards, the industry believes DNR may not be on the most solid ground to uphold this new decision. Can they argue that the decision was arbitrary and capricious? The industry also sees this as a test to save the geoduck aquaculture industry from a similar fate, as many of the same issues raised in this case could be applied by environmentalists to the near shore. Actually, they already have been but have not yet found the political support to stop the ongoing destruction of our shorelines by geoduck aquaculture illegally supported by both DNR and the Army Corps of Engineers (as decided in recent court battles lost by both agencies. )

Don’t go popping champagne bottles just yet, as we have not seen the end of the industry as it relates to this issue. The arc of justice may be finally bending in the way of environmental protection as it relates to the problems of net pen aquaculture, but the industry will do its best to bend it back to profit over wild stocks.

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Salish Sea, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Government, legislation | Tagged: | 5 Comments »

What you should know about Industrial Raised Shellfish Aquaculture: An overview

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Al Bergstein

Kristina Sinclair gave a presentation to the Protect the Peninsula’s Future’s (PPF) meeting last night. I share her presentation with you with her permission. The questions that this presentation raises are many. What is the limit to these operations on our beaches? How much of the Sound and Hood Canal do we the people of this State want to see turned into the images in this presentation? Since 2000 the State has engaged in a promotion of commercial geoduck aquaculture for the profit of a small number of companies selling almost entirely to China. Do we want this to continue unabated? Can we expect local state and federal legislators who receive significant political contributions from these businesses to make changes on our behalf? Without considerable public outcry this will continue. Watch this slideshow, look at the map and you make up your mind.

Kristina Sinclair is an Associate Attorney at the Center for Food Safety (CFS), where she focuses on environmental cases challenging industrial agriculture, including commercial shellfish.

Kristina earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. While in law school, Kristina was an Articles Editor for the California Law Review. She also participated in the Environmental Law Clinic, served on the steering committee for Students for Economic and Environmental Justice, and worked as a teaching assistant for Appellate Advocacy. Upon graduation, she received recognition for her pro bono work and a Certificate of Specialization in Environmental Law.

Since joining CFS, Kristina has been working on a lawsuit challenging highly disruptive industrial shellfish operations in Washington. In this case, CFS and Coalition to Protect Puget Sound allege that the U.S. Army Corps (USACE) failed to properly consider the potential risks before reissuing the nationwide permit for commercial shellfish activities in January 2021, in violation of the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Endangered Species Act. In addition, USACE has authorized over 400 commercial shellfish operations without any public notice or environment review. Consequently, these operations have significant adverse effects on Washington’s local environment and wildlife.  In this presentation Kristina provides an overview of USACE’s shellfish permitting requirements, as well as the ongoing litigation challenging USACE’s unlawful shellfish permitting actions. She also shares some insights from this legal work and potential opportunities for future advocacy.  

  • Background on USACE’s Permitting Requirements
  • History of USACE’s Unlawful Permitting Actions in Washington
  • Previous Case
  • Current Case
  • Future Opportunities

Interactive map of Industrial Shellfish Aquaculture in Puget Sound & Hood Canal.

Below is the PDF of the Slideshow. It is over 4MBs so it might load slow on a slow link.

2022-11-17 Industrial Shellfish SlidesDownload

Filed under: Aquaculture, Clallam County, Environmental Activism, environmental education, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Dept. of Nat. Resources Bans Future Net Pen Aquaculture – Major Win for Environmentalists, Tribes, Salmon & Orcas.

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Al Bergstein

Today, Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz made history when she announced a new groundbreaking executive order that will prohibit commercial net pen aquaculture in Washington state marine waters. During the press conference, a question about the net pen proposed by the joint business venture of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Cooke Aquaculture to create a net pen to farm Black Cod (Sablefish) was deflected with a mention that Commissioner Franz had been in discussions with them on this issue. It was not clear whether they were not going to be allowed to put the pen in under the Tribe’s name or not. Franz also mentioned that upland farming of salmon would likely be approved by DNR. The industry has long stated that this method is not commercially viable at this time.

This ends a long history of industry “spokespeople”, who have been involved with Marine Resources Committees both in Clallam and Jefferson Counties, touting the benefits of these pens and disrupting anyone coming forward to raise concerns, such as when Professor Dill, a researcher from a distinguished Canadian University came to Port Angeles a few years ago to discuss his scientifically based concerns and was shouted down by industry representatives.

While Commissioner Franz’ concerns about ending destruction of the near shore by these farms could easily be carried over to the nearshore beach destruction by industrial geoduck operations over thousands of acres of beaches throughout the Sound and Hood Canal, there was no discussion of that issue today.

This blog has been a long time critic of Commissioner Franz, due to her seemingly lack of concern over industrial aquaculture in our waters. We welcome and thank her for finally taking strong legal action on this issue. It has been viewed both here on the West Coast, nationally and internationally as a major step towards recovering and protecting our waters.

Press Release from the Wild Fish Conservancy, the major group working to end this policy.


“This new policy was announced earlier today by Commissioner Franz at a press conference on Bainbridge Island overlooking the Rich Passage net pens alongside leaders from Wild Fish Conservancy and Suquamish Tribe. The news comes on the heels of another long-awaited and widely-supported decision announced earlier this week by Commissioner Franz that DNR has refused new decade-long leases to global seafood giant Cooke Aquaculture to continue operating commercial net pens in Puget Sound.

“After the incredible news announced earlier this week, it is almost impossible to believe we are now celebrating an even bigger, groundbreaking victory for our wild salmon, orcas, and the health of Puget Sound,” said Emma Helverson, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “By denying new leases to Cooke and bringing forward this comprehensive, bold new policy to prevent commercial net pens from ever operating in Washington marine waters again, Commissioner Franz is ensuring Puget Sound will be protected, not just now, but far into the future for the benefit of generations to come.”

Together, the lease denial and executive order will require Cooke to remove all of their net pen facilities from Puget Sound before the end of year, marking the end of the commercial net pen industry that has operated in Washington state for over 40 years. The benefits of these actions for the recovery of wild fish, water quality, and the greater health of Puget Sound cannot be overstated. Immediately, this action will cease chronic untreated pollution that has been discharged daily at these aquatic sites for over forty 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 State.

The decision will also eliminate many major risk factors that harm the recovery of wild salmon and steelhead, including ending the risk of exposure to viruses, parasites, and diseases that are amplified and spread at unnatural levels by massive densities of farmed fish and the risk of future catastrophic escape events in which farmed fish could compete with, attempt to interbreed, or spread pathogens to threatened and endangered wild fish.


DNR’s decision will also restore the public and Tribal access to over 130 acres of Puget Sound that have been restricted by this industry for over forty years. More broadly, Washington’s decision will unite the entire U.S. Pacific Coast in excluding this industry from marine waters. Combined with Canada’s recent commitment to transition open water net pens out of British Columbia waters, this decision also has the potential to eliminate a major limiting factor to wild Pacific salmon recovery at a coastwide, international scale.


“After the news earlier this week, we’ve heard from colleagues all around the world in places like Chile, Tasmania, Scotland, and so many others working to protect their own public waters from the environmental harm of commercial net pen aquaculture,” says Helverson. “Today’s historic decision is setting a new standard that will serve as a model and rallying cry to bolster the efforts of communities and governments around the world working toward this same end and we stand committed to leveraging our massive success to support their efforts.”


Cooke is the same company found at fault for the catastrophic 2017 Cypress Island net pen collapse that released over 260,000 nonnative and viral-infected Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound. Cooke purchased all of Washington’s net pen facilities in 2016 with plans to expand exponentially in Washington waters.

In response to this expansion plan, Wild Fish Conservancy launched the Our Sound, Our Salmon (OSOS) campaign in April 2017 to raise public awareness about the environmental impacts of commercial net pen aquaculture. In 2018, a coalition of over 10,000 individuals and hundreds of businesses and organizations under the banner of OSOS, worked in concert with Tribal efforts, to advocate for Washington’s landmark law banning nonnative Atlantic salmon aquaculture.

In July 2020, in response to Cooke avoiding the ban by transitioning to native species, the OSOS campaign launched a new initiative, Taking Back Our Sound, with the goal of preventing Cooke from receiving new leases. Through this effort, 9,000 individuals and 127 business and organizations called on DNR’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz through a petition and direct actions, which included a Bainbridge Island city resolution, to deny new leases to Cooke and to restore Puget Sound for the benefit and use of all. In making her decision over Cooke’s lease request, DNR was required by statute to issue a decision in the best interest of the public.
“It’s clear this victory for wild salmon, orcas, and Puget Sound belongs to no one person or group. Without the separate actions of thousands of individuals, Washington’s Tribal Nations, businesses, organizations, chefs, fishing groups, scientists, elected officials, and so many others working together over the last five years, this would never have been possible,” says Helverson. “It is truly inspiring to see 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.”

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Salish Sea, Endangered Species, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, First Nations, fisheries, legislation, Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: | Comments Off on Dept. of Nat. Resources Bans Future Net Pen Aquaculture – Major Win for Environmentalists, Tribes, Salmon & Orcas.

WA Dept of Natural Resources Cancels Leases for Remaining Net Pen Salmon Farms in Puget Sound

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Al Bergstein

While many are glad to see this long-awaited decision, it is by no means the end of Cook Aquaculture and its efforts to farm fish here. But if they indeed do remove the Rich Passage net pen, it could be good news for the remaining salmon that run through Orchard Rocks off southern Bainbridge Island. Why? Because it has never been fully investigated as to whether this net pen was partially responsible for the collapse of the salmon run through the passage and Agate Pass. Given recent news that the Hood Canal Floating Bridge may be a significant cause of salmon collapse in Hood Canal, and the hunch by some old fishermen that stocks collapsed after the net pen in Rich Passage went in, anything is possible. Obviously, shoreline development in the area at that time also had a good deal to do with the salmon loss.

A reminder to all that Cooke still has a business agreement with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the two are rearing Black Cod (Sablefish) in Port Angeles harbor. My guess is that Cooke will look for additional opportunities like this and will approach other tribes if they haven’t already. Still to come, is understanding how the recent unanimous Supreme Court ruling may affect this decision. Will Cooke and allies sue in court, based on their previous win? I don’t think this is as over as it seems, but for now, it’s a good decision, long overdue.

Official Press Release:

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.

Seattle Times article (Behind paywall)

WA will not renew leases for Puget Sound fish farms, 5 years after spill | The Seattle Times

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Sound, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, fisheries, Government, Olympic Peninsula, Salmon | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

With cash boost from government, Cascadia Seaweed dives into cattle feed – Times Colonist

Posted on October 29, 2022 by Al Bergstein

As expected, the “environmentally friendly” new industry of seaweed farming that is being promoted for Puget Sound is apparently being used in Canada for, wait for it, producing feed for cattle. No joke. This has got to be one of the worst tradeoffs possible for turning our Salish Sea into a seaweed farm, on top of the never-ending conversion of beaches for aquaculture, etc. If you want to weight in, take this article and write to your state congresspeople, DNR and others and tell them that this is not what we expected in moving into seaweed farming


Sidney-based Cascadia Seaweed has been given $4.3 million by the federal government to establish a 100-hectare seaweed farm and agri-feed processing facility close to Prince Rupert. Cascadia, which combines cultivation expertise, First Nations partnerships and brand development, currently has about 26 hectares of seaweed under cultivation in waters off the province’s coast. Andrew Duffy reports. (Times Colonist)

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Salish Sea | 2 Comments »

Can kelp farming help save our marine environment? -Salish Sea Current

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Al Bergstein

This is an echo of both the race to open the Sound up to salmon farms in the late 70s (a failure both financially and environmentally) and the race to open beaches across the Sound to commercial aquaculture, including geoducks (a financial boon but an environmental disgrace). Our tendency to ignore the possible downsides of new aquaculture plays into a narrative that all aquaculture is “good” and “sustainable”. Part of the issue here is that NOAA is looking to continue to support the conversion of our waters and beaches into commercial companies, which end up making it impossible to access more and more of our public beaches. Part of NOAAs efforts is to put a “stacked” farming plan into effect, looking at each depth as a possible source of revenue for businesses. Shellfish on the bottom, kelp in the middle with hopefully some fish along the way. Where recreational users fit into this is ignored. Proof? try kayaking in many of the bays in the South Sound, where geoduck nets straddle much of the waters. Is there any real debate going on about kelp farming at the state level or will we simply open the waters to another industry that we can never again reign in. There rarely is any ability to stop or better regulate it once it’s in place.

To be clear, I am not against the idea of this industry taking hold, I’m against the blind race to simply permit this without really debating the long term consequences of our actions.

Thirteen Washington counties ring the Salish Sea; a kelp farm would have to meet the requirements of each county’s shoreline master plans, which regulate shoreline uses. Tribal governments would likely want to review applications to ensure a kelp farm wouldn’t interfere with tribal fishing in their usual and accustomed areas.

Can kelp farming help save our marine environment? – Salish Current (salish-current.org)

Filed under: Aquaculture, Around the Sound, fisheries | Comments Off on Can kelp farming help save our marine environment? -Salish Sea Current

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