Yesterday, despite ongoing litigation and prior to finalizing updates to emergency response plans critical to protecting wild salmon, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) granted fish farm giant Cooke Aquaculture a transport permit to begin planting steelhead/ rainbow trout in their Hope Island net pen facility.
Hope Island net pen near the mouth of the Skagit River, Puget Sound’s most important salmon bearing river. Photo by Steve Ringman, Seattle Times
The timing of this decision has perplexed many throughout Puget Sound given next month the Washington Supreme Court will hold trial to determine whether WDFW violated state law by approving Cooke Aquaculture’s project proposal to transition their Puget Sound net pens to steelhead/ rainbow trout without adequately considering the environmental risks.
If the Court rules against WDFW, all of Cooke’s existing permits and the underlying environmental review will be invalidated until WDFW conducts the comprehensive environmental impact statement requested by salmon and orca advocates, six Tribal Nations, elected officials, and thousands of members of the public.
As a result, Cooke’s permits could be revoked while they have farmed fish rearing in their net pens, a less than ideal situation that could result in a lengthy and expensive legal battle and has the potential to place an unnecessary financial burden on the public. Just as concerning, if not more, is the potential harm and impact to threatened and endangered wild fish populations and the health of Puget Sound that could occur during the time these fish are in the water. By revoking the permits the Court would be agreeing that the environmental review did not adequately consider or address the environmental impacts of this project, further highlighting the recklessness of this rushed decision to allow Cooke to stock their pens before challenges of the permitting process are complete.
“Right now, Washington’s highest court is deciding whether Cooke Aquaculture’s new project should have ever been approved. This decision to approve the transport of fish into Puget Sound net pens while the court's decision is pending is reckless and further demonstrates an alarming pattern of state agencies putting the wishes of a billion-dollar industry ahead of wild salmon recovery, tribal treaty rights, and the public’s best interest.”
Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director, Wild Fish Conservancy
During the August 6th Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting a day after the transport permit was granted, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind defended the decision pointing out that currently, Cooke has a valid lease and valid permits to operate at its Hope Island site despite pending litigation, and that the agency can find no legal basis to deny the transport permit. This explanation suggests WDFW either does not have authority to delay issuing a permit even when there is a financial and ecological risk, or they have the authority but choose to take an action that directly benefits Cooke at the expense of threatened and endangered species and the public’s best interest. Even if Cooke can legally be granted a transport permit, meeting bare minimum legal requirements is not an appropriate or precautionary approach to managing species threatened or endangered with extinction.
The new permit, signed August 5th by the department, will allow for 365,000 steelhead to be transported and placed in Cooke’s facility off Hope Island located at the mouth of the Skagit River— one of Washington’s most important salmon bearing rivers.
Much like Cooke Aquaculture’s permits, the future of the company's leases also face uncertainty. The existing lease for the Hope Island facility expires in March 2022 and Cooke will need to secure a new lease in order to continue operating. Based on Cooke’s own timeline, this lease expiration will occur long before the 365,000 steelhead at this facility would reach a harvestable size. Without a valid lease for this farm beyond that deadline, Cooke would be required to remove these fish, as well as all of their net pen infrastructure.
In July 2020, through the new initiative Taking Back Our Sound, Our Sound, Our Salmon founder Wild Fish Conservancy submitted applications to lease all public waters currently and historically used for commercial net pen aquaculture in Puget Sound. In contrast to Cooke’s proposal to continue restricting and degrading these waters for private profit, the Taking Back Our Sound Restoration Project seeks to hold these waters in public trust for the sole purposes of restoring them to their natural state and restoring the public’s access to over 130 acres of Puget Sound. Right now, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is deciding between these two starkly different proposals. Help call on DNR to make the right choice by signing the petition below!
Another key concern is that WDFW is allowing Cooke to begin planting fish in their Hope Island net pen before the agency has finalized updates to two emergency response plans for responding to escape events like the Cypress Island collapse. According to Cooke’s permits, these plans— the ‘Fish Escape Response and Reporting Plan’ and ‘Fish Escape Prevention Plan’— only need to be updated annually and are not a legal requirement of the transport permits themselves. These updated plans have been submitted by Cooke to WDFW and are currently being evaluated. While the decision to allow Cooke to begin planting their Hope Island site prior to these plans being updated may be legal as defined by Cooke’s operational permits, it certainly does not demonstrate precautionary natural resource management.
Most concerning, Cooke is required to consult with local Tribal Nations in drafting these plans, and as far as we understand has never occurred. This is particularly concerning given Tribal Nations were forced to shoulder the burden of recovering Cooke’s escaped fish during and following the Cypress Island collapse. We are entirely grateful to the Lummi Nation and other Tribal Nations who sacrificed their own fishing seasons in order to lead an emergency response effort after industry and government failed to implement a sufficient response plan.
Regardless of the minimum legal requirements, stocking these net pens should not occur when the future of Cooke’s leases and permits are uncertain, before Tribal Nations have been adequately consulted, and when updates to emergency procedures are pending.