Cooke Aquaculture Pacific (Cooke) today dismissed its own appeal of Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) cancelation of its net pen leases at Rich Passage and Hope Island.

 

“Washingtonians should remember this day. This is truly the end of dangerous and destructive net pens in the state,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. “Cooke Aquaculture has finally realized that its fight to continue to put our waters and salmon at risk was futile. And as the courtroom battles and corporate tantrums fade away, we’re left with a Washington with cleaner waters, stronger habitats, and healthier salmon.”

 

This is the final chapter in a story that began on August 19, 2017, when 300,000 Atlantic salmon escaped when a faulty net-pen at the Cooke Aquaculture facility near Cypress Island collapsed. DNR terminated that lease as a result and fined Cooke $332,000. Cooke was also found negligent by the state Department of Ecology.

 

Following that DNR terminated Cooke’s Port Angeles lease for failing to maintain the facility in a safe condition. In 2018 the State Legislature took action and phased out Atlantic salmon farming.

 

Commissioner Franz in 2022 signed a Commissioner’s Order prohibiting commercial finish net pen aquaculture on state-owned aquatic lands, saying “there is no way to safely farm fish in open sea net pens with jeopardizing our struggling native Salmon.” In May 2023, Cooke was required to remove the last pen from Washington’s waters in Rich Passage. And, in early 2024, DNR began an official rule-making to ban fin fish net-pen aquaculture in Washington state.

 

DNR’s measures have wide support from Washington’s Tribal nations like the Suquamish Tribe, Lummi Nation, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and Samish Indian Nation, local wildlife groups, the communities impacted by these facilities, and the public. Despite this support, Cooke has fought an expensive and time-consuming battle to undo Commissioner Franz’ actions to protect native salmon and the state’s aquatic lands. For years, DNR has prevailed in the courts in defense of the Agency’s actions on net pen leases in the state.

 

“This was a long fight to protect our native salmon and safeguard our waters, but it was worth it,” Commissioner Franz continued. “We said loud and clear that our marine life, our state lands, our communities, and our Tribes are too important to risk for corporate profit. Because how we protect the earth, how we defend it, how we empower our communities is what defines us. This is a legacy of which I am so proud to be a part.”

 

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Michael Kelly

Communications Director

Cell: 360-878-4217