The last company to hold net pen leases in the state, Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, gave up its appeal on Friday, March 15, against the cancellation of its Rish Passage and Hope Island leases.
The leases were canceled in November 2022.
On August 19, 2017, the company’s lease near Cypress Island was canceled due to the escape of 300,000 Atlantic Salmon from a faulty net pen. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources also fined them $332,000 for the incident.
Fishermen from the Lummi Nation went on a mission to catch thousands of Atlantic salmon before they could breed with native salmon. Washington state tribes such as the Suquamish Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and Samish Indian Nation supported the ban on net pens, according to a statement from the DNR.
Cooke’s lease at Port Angeles was also canceled after failing to maintain the facility in a safe condition.
In 2018, legislation was passed that would end net pen farming of Atlantic Salmon in Washington by 2025.
In November 2022, the practice was banned by the DNR. When the ban was announced, Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, cited cramped spaces, a concentration of animal waste and polluted water as negative effects of prisons.
The practice is already banned in Oregon, California and Alaska, and there are plans to phase it out off the coast of British Columbia by 2025.
In May 2023, Cooke put down his last pen in Washington’s Rish Passage.
Net pens are basically floating passages with underwater cages. The nets prevent the fish from escaping but allow water to flow freely within the enclosure. Stronger netting is lined outside the enclosures to keep predators away and bird netting is often found to deter bird predators.
Net pens are labeled high-risk systems. Free flowing water allows the passage of waste, parasites and chemicals that may be in the cages. Predators can become entangled in netting and, as seen near Cypress Island, fish can escape.
“As courtroom battles and corporate tantrums fade away, we are left with a Washington with cleaner water, stronger habitat, and healthier salmon,” Franz said in a news release.
