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Is fish farm partnership necessity or ‘disaster’?
A Department of Natural Resources’ drone image shows a net pen that collapsed off of Cypress Island on August 28, 2017, releasing hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound. Net pens like this one will be used in Port Angeles in the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s new joint venture with Cooke Aquaculture to rear black cod and steelhead. Photo courtesy of Department of Natural Resources
Posted Wednesday, November 13, 2019 3:00 am
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe announced in early October a new partnership with Cooke Aquaculture to rear black cod and sterile all-female rainbow trout in Port Angeles, much to the dismay of wild salmon conservationists who say marine net pens are an “environmental disaster.”
The announcement of the new joint venture comes just as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has been receiving public comment on a proposal to issue a five-year Marine Aquaculture Permit to Cooke Aquaculture to culture all-female triploid rainbow trout/steelhead in existing commercial marine net-pens in Puget Sound.
The Port Angeles project will be a 50-50 venture between the Jamestown S’Klallam and Cooke.
“We will co-manage it together,” said Kurt Grinnell, general manager of Jamestown Seafoods. The new farm will require reinstatement of Cooke’s previous farm lease at Port Angeles. The lease on the Port Angeles farm—which was previously used to rear Atlantic salmon—was expired by the state’s Department of Natural Resources after it was deemed unsafe and illegal. Cooke is currently suing over DNR’s cancellation of its Port Angeles lease.
That cancellation followed the disastrous summer of 2017, when some of Cooke’s net pens failed, hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped into Puget Sound and the Legislature voted to phase Atlantic net pen farming out of practice.
“If you look at net pen farming around the world, it doesn’t matter where you are or who’s been doing it, it’s basically always an environmental disaster,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of the Wild Fish Conservancy, a group that advocates for wild fish conservation in Washington and beyond.
But farming native species like black cod and all-female, sterile rainbow trout means there is less of an impact in the case of an accidental release, said the manager of the tribe’s seafood enterprise. Grinnell said if fish escape, these are native species, not invasive like the Atlantic salmon conservationists feared would damage native runs of anadromous fish.
And the fact that they are sterile means there’s no chance of breeding and furthering the habitat disturbance.
“We are currently installing brand new pens,” Grinnell said. “They originally bought pens from Icicle Seafoods in 2016. They bought that older equipment in disrepair. Cooke, as far as we can see, has rectified their pens by replacing them with new equipment.”
But beyond the possibility of net pens breaking and sending thousands of farmed salmon into the Sound, net pens are also a breeding ground for disease, Beardslee said.
“In the wild, when an animal gets sick, it is taken out by predators,” he said. “In net pens, all those animals are protected by the pen. The animals are so close together that if one gets sick, the rest get sick. Then those viruses go back into the natural environment.”
Net pens are in high tidal flushing areas, where viruses have a high chance of surviving for days after they’ve left the host, he added.
Because of the higher amount of disease and viruses in net pens, fish farmers use more pharmaceuticals. These chemicals used to kill disease are flushed into Puget Sound, with unknown consequences for natural ecosystems.
According to Grinnell, the Tribe and Cooke will avoid these issues by vaccinating their fish beforehand.
“We catch our broodstock out here in the ocean and raise the black cod at the Manchester Research Laboratory before they go into the net pens,” he said. “The steelhead eggs are the same eggs the state uses for their trophy trout program.”
“We do vaccinate the fish before they’re put out in the environment. That way we don’t have to worry about antibiotics.”
Conservationists like Beardslee are also concerned about the amount of fecal pollution and food waste that goes to the floor of the ocean from net pen farming.
“What other farming business doesn’t have to process their waste before it goes into the Puget Sound?” Beardslee said. “Other farmers can’t do that.”
But the Tribe, which is partnered with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and University of Washington researchers at their Manchester Research Laboratory, are looking for ways to lessen this potential impact on the environment.
Underwater cameras will be used to monitor fish feeding. When fish are done eating, the feeding stops, to reduce excess feed that can load nutrients into seawater and sea floors below pens.
They are also hoping to experiment with other native species to battle the waste problem.
“We’re working on growing sea cucumbers to help collect and filter waste,” Grinnell said. “We’re constantly bringing people on board to bring fish farming to have the least amount of impact possible.”
In 2017, the Wild Fish Conservancy filed a suit against Cooke Aquaculture under section 505 of the Clean Water Act, with the goal of holding the company responsible for the negligent release of over 100,000 farmed Atlantic salmon into public waters.
For the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, which is well-known for its work on restoring riparian habitat for wild salmon runs, including the removal of the Elwha River dam, teaming up with a private entity under attack from salmon conservationists seems like an unusual choice.
“We, along with our sister tribes, are strong stewards of our environment,” stated Ron Allen, chairman of the Tribe in a press release. “We firmly believe we can implement net pen aquaculture consistent with our Tribal heritage and cultural values.”
It isn’t unusual for net pen aquaculture businesses to team up with tribes along the West Coast.
In Canada’s Clayoquot Sound, the aquaculture operator Cermaq Canada partnered with the Ahousaht Tribe to put net pens in the First Nation’s territory.
According to reporting from the BBC, Cermaq has an agreement with the Ahousaht to operate in their territory that includes employment benefits and sustainable handling of its farms.
But Cermaq has been under fire from Ahousaht authorities after high levels of sea lice were found in farmed Atlantic salmon.
Cermaq, which operates their net pens in the UNESCO biosphere area of Clayoquot Sound, were put on notice by the Ahousaht to do better in their management of sea lice, according to an open letter from Cermaq’s managing director, David Kiemele.
After bringing in a special barge called a “Hydrolicer” to remove sea lice from the net pen farms, in September of 2019, Cermaq still reported a high number of sea lice found on juvenile salmon at their Dixon Bay net pen site.
Meanwhile, other Tribes’ have been advocates on the front lines against net pens.
The ‘Namgis First Nation in Vancouver Island has held on-water protests and occupied fish farms in opposition to the practice.
The Tribe recently lost its court bid to prevent the restocking of an open-net salmon farm in its territories off northern Vancouver Island.
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has again failed to protect wild salmon by refusing to prohibit transfers of Atlantic salmon infected with the Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) into fish farms along the migratory routes of wild salmon,” wrote Chief Don Svanvik after the court bid was lost.
For Beardslee, who has been advocating for the aquaculture industry to move to on-land fish farming instead of marine net pens, it was not a surprise to hear the Jamestown S’Klallam would be partnering with Cooke.
“If you look at the history of this industry, they do this pretty much everywhere they go,” he said. “They try to bring in First Nations to partner with them to try and give them some kind of credibility.”
But Grinnell said the tribe’s goal is to ease market pressure on wild salmon.
“We’ve extracted as much from our oceans as we can,” he said. “We’re maxxed out. So we’re going to have to look for other ways to have a clean, healthy protein.”
He’s not opposed to moving fish farming indoors, but it’s not yet economically viable.
“We’re trying,” he said. “The steelhead already spent half of its life indoors, in a hatchery. But fish need space and lots of clean water—we’re talking millions of gallons of water.”
Fish farming in Puget Sound is still a cleaner activity than much of the livestock raising that happens in the United States, he said.
“We don’t claim that there’s zero impact,” he said. “Anytime you grow food there’s going to be an environmental impact.”
He also agreed that Cooke has made mistakes in the past that can’t be ignored.
“Mistakes happen in every industry,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we should avert our eyes. Instead we need to follow all the regulations, inspections and best practices.”
The venture won’t be able to get off the ground until WDFW completes its public process in examining Cooke’s proposal to farm steelhead and black cod in the Puget Sound.
One concern with the proposal is that it uses an environmental impact statement that is dated to 1990.
“Thousands are asking for an Environmental Impact Statement that isn’t 30 years old,” Beardslee said. The Wild Fish Conservancy is hoping to present data to WDFW that will show there are more environmental impacts than previously thought.
Beardslee encouraged members of the public to do their own research into net pens and Cooke’s history.
“I think the public has already spoken with the banning of the Atlantic net pens,” he said. “The bottom line relative to the Tribe considering this is that there is no right way to do the wrong thing.”
A Department of Natural Resources’ drone image shows a net pen that collapsed off of Cypress Island on August 28, 2017, releasing hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound. Net pens like this one will be used in Port Angeles in the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s new joint venture with Cooke Aquaculture to rear black cod and steelhead. Photo courtesy of Department of Natural Resources
Posted Wednesday, November 13, 2019 3:00 am
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe announced in early October a new partnership with Cooke Aquaculture to rear black cod and sterile all-female rainbow trout in Port Angeles, much to the dismay of wild salmon conservationists who say marine net pens are an “environmental disaster.”
The announcement of the new joint venture comes just as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has been receiving public comment on a proposal to issue a five-year Marine Aquaculture Permit to Cooke Aquaculture to culture all-female triploid rainbow trout/steelhead in existing commercial marine net-pens in Puget Sound.
The Port Angeles project will be a 50-50 venture between the Jamestown S’Klallam and Cooke.
“We will co-manage it together,” said Kurt Grinnell, general manager of Jamestown Seafoods. The new farm will require reinstatement of Cooke’s previous farm lease at Port Angeles. The lease on the Port Angeles farm—which was previously used to rear Atlantic salmon—was expired by the state’s Department of Natural Resources after it was deemed unsafe and illegal. Cooke is currently suing over DNR’s cancellation of its Port Angeles lease.
That cancellation followed the disastrous summer of 2017, when some of Cooke’s net pens failed, hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped into Puget Sound and the Legislature voted to phase Atlantic net pen farming out of practice.
“If you look at net pen farming around the world, it doesn’t matter where you are or who’s been doing it, it’s basically always an environmental disaster,” said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of the Wild Fish Conservancy, a group that advocates for wild fish conservation in Washington and beyond.
But farming native species like black cod and all-female, sterile rainbow trout means there is less of an impact in the case of an accidental release, said the manager of the tribe’s seafood enterprise. Grinnell said if fish escape, these are native species, not invasive like the Atlantic salmon conservationists feared would damage native runs of anadromous fish.
And the fact that they are sterile means there’s no chance of breeding and furthering the habitat disturbance.
“We are currently installing brand new pens,” Grinnell said. “They originally bought pens from Icicle Seafoods in 2016. They bought that older equipment in disrepair. Cooke, as far as we can see, has rectified their pens by replacing them with new equipment.”
But beyond the possibility of net pens breaking and sending thousands of farmed salmon into the Sound, net pens are also a breeding ground for disease, Beardslee said.
“In the wild, when an animal gets sick, it is taken out by predators,” he said. “In net pens, all those animals are protected by the pen. The animals are so close together that if one gets sick, the rest get sick. Then those viruses go back into the natural environment.”
Net pens are in high tidal flushing areas, where viruses have a high chance of surviving for days after they’ve left the host, he added.
Because of the higher amount of disease and viruses in net pens, fish farmers use more pharmaceuticals. These chemicals used to kill disease are flushed into Puget Sound, with unknown consequences for natural ecosystems.
According to Grinnell, the Tribe and Cooke will avoid these issues by vaccinating their fish beforehand.
“We catch our broodstock out here in the ocean and raise the black cod at the Manchester Research Laboratory before they go into the net pens,” he said. “The steelhead eggs are the same eggs the state uses for their trophy trout program.”
“We do vaccinate the fish before they’re put out in the environment. That way we don’t have to worry about antibiotics.”
Conservationists like Beardslee are also concerned about the amount of fecal pollution and food waste that goes to the floor of the ocean from net pen farming.
“What other farming business doesn’t have to process their waste before it goes into the Puget Sound?” Beardslee said. “Other farmers can’t do that.”
But the Tribe, which is partnered with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and University of Washington researchers at their Manchester Research Laboratory, are looking for ways to lessen this potential impact on the environment.
Underwater cameras will be used to monitor fish feeding. When fish are done eating, the feeding stops, to reduce excess feed that can load nutrients into seawater and sea floors below pens.
They are also hoping to experiment with other native species to battle the waste problem.
“We’re working on growing sea cucumbers to help collect and filter waste,” Grinnell said. “We’re constantly bringing people on board to bring fish farming to have the least amount of impact possible.”
In 2017, the Wild Fish Conservancy filed a suit against Cooke Aquaculture under section 505 of the Clean Water Act, with the goal of holding the company responsible for the negligent release of over 100,000 farmed Atlantic salmon into public waters.
For the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, which is well-known for its work on restoring riparian habitat for wild salmon runs, including the removal of the Elwha River dam, teaming up with a private entity under attack from salmon conservationists seems like an unusual choice.
“We, along with our sister tribes, are strong stewards of our environment,” stated Ron Allen, chairman of the Tribe in a press release. “We firmly believe we can implement net pen aquaculture consistent with our Tribal heritage and cultural values.”
It isn’t unusual for net pen aquaculture businesses to team up with tribes along the West Coast.
In Canada’s Clayoquot Sound, the aquaculture operator Cermaq Canada partnered with the Ahousaht Tribe to put net pens in the First Nation’s territory.
According to reporting from the BBC, Cermaq has an agreement with the Ahousaht to operate in their territory that includes employment benefits and sustainable handling of its farms.
But Cermaq has been under fire from Ahousaht authorities after high levels of sea lice were found in farmed Atlantic salmon.
Cermaq, which operates their net pens in the UNESCO biosphere area of Clayoquot Sound, were put on notice by the Ahousaht to do better in their management of sea lice, according to an open letter from Cermaq’s managing director, David Kiemele.
After bringing in a special barge called a “Hydrolicer” to remove sea lice from the net pen farms, in September of 2019, Cermaq still reported a high number of sea lice found on juvenile salmon at their Dixon Bay net pen site.
Meanwhile, other Tribes’ have been advocates on the front lines against net pens.
The ‘Namgis First Nation in Vancouver Island has held on-water protests and occupied fish farms in opposition to the practice.
The Tribe recently lost its court bid to prevent the restocking of an open-net salmon farm in its territories off northern Vancouver Island.
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has again failed to protect wild salmon by refusing to prohibit transfers of Atlantic salmon infected with the Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) into fish farms along the migratory routes of wild salmon,” wrote Chief Don Svanvik after the court bid was lost.
For Beardslee, who has been advocating for the aquaculture industry to move to on-land fish farming instead of marine net pens, it was not a surprise to hear the Jamestown S’Klallam would be partnering with Cooke.
“If you look at the history of this industry, they do this pretty much everywhere they go,” he said. “They try to bring in First Nations to partner with them to try and give them some kind of credibility.”
But Grinnell said the tribe’s goal is to ease market pressure on wild salmon.
“We’ve extracted as much from our oceans as we can,” he said. “We’re maxxed out. So we’re going to have to look for other ways to have a clean, healthy protein.”
He’s not opposed to moving fish farming indoors, but it’s not yet economically viable.
“We’re trying,” he said. “The steelhead already spent half of its life indoors, in a hatchery. But fish need space and lots of clean water—we’re talking millions of gallons of water.”
Fish farming in Puget Sound is still a cleaner activity than much of the livestock raising that happens in the United States, he said.
“We don’t claim that there’s zero impact,” he said. “Anytime you grow food there’s going to be an environmental impact.”
He also agreed that Cooke has made mistakes in the past that can’t be ignored.
“Mistakes happen in every industry,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we should avert our eyes. Instead we need to follow all the regulations, inspections and best practices.”
The venture won’t be able to get off the ground until WDFW completes its public process in examining Cooke’s proposal to farm steelhead and black cod in the Puget Sound.
One concern with the proposal is that it uses an environmental impact statement that is dated to 1990.
“Thousands are asking for an Environmental Impact Statement that isn’t 30 years old,” Beardslee said. The Wild Fish Conservancy is hoping to present data to WDFW that will show there are more environmental impacts than previously thought.
Beardslee encouraged members of the public to do their own research into net pens and Cooke’s history.
“I think the public has already spoken with the banning of the Atlantic net pens,” he said. “The bottom line relative to the Tribe considering this is that there is no right way to do the wrong thing.”
