Washington House Votes To Ban Atlantic Salmon Farms

What appears to be a destroyed net pen at Cooke Aquaculture's facility on Cypress Island is shown on Tuesday, August 22, 2017. CREDIT: MEGAN FARMER/KUOW
What appears to be a destroyed net pen at Cooke Aquaculture's facility on Cypress Island is shown on Tuesday, August 22, 2017. CREDIT: MEGAN FARMER/KUOW

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The Washington House of Representatives has voted to phase out farming of non-native fish in state waters, drawing the end of Atlantic salmon farming in Puget Sound one step closer.

Both bills let existing salmon farms keep operating only until their current leases run out, in the next 4 to 7 years.

The House vote also comes six months after a poorly maintained fish farm collapsed near Anacortes, letting an estimated 250,000 Atlantic salmon escape into Puget Sound.

Republicans, including Rep. David Taylor of Moxee, called the move an overreaction to a single accident.

“You have an accident on a farm, we don’t try to eliminate that industry,” Taylor said. “But in this case, we are.”

But Republican Rep. J.T. Wilcox of Yelm said he would vote in favor of the phase-out, even if it meant some jobs would be lost.

Wilcox said the risk to runs of native salmon was too great.

“My sympathies are with the people that depend on these fish runs who are unwilling to take the risk, and I don’t blame them,” Wilcox said, “and also on the people that this vote is going to harm.”

He said he’d never felt worse after a vote.

Wilcox called on Washingtonians to take all threats to native salmon more seriously.

Canadian company Cooke Aquaculture raises Atlantic salmon on three continents. It employs about 80 people in Washington.

If the House and Senate can hash out the minor differences between their two bills, either by approving the other chamber’s bill or agreeing on some compromise between them, Governor Jay Inslee is expected to sign a ban on Atlantic salmon farms into law. 

Copyright 2018 KUOW

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Cooke Aquaculture's ruined Atlantic salmon farm off Cypress Island on Aug. 28. CREDIT: WASHINGTON DNR

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The Canadian owner of an Atlantic salmon farm that collapsed last summer near Anacortes vows to use the North American Free Trade Agreement to save its fish farms in Puget Sound. New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture says it will pursue mandatory arbitration under NAFTA if the Washington legislature tries to phase out Atlantic salmon farming.

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