2/3 of killer whale pregnancies fail -
because of low availability
of Chinook Salmon.
Our Sound, Our Salmon - Stop Net Pen Expansion in Puget Sound
While a fitting quote to why the intertidal tidelands are being allowed to be transformed into industrial facilities requiring little regulatory oversight, the above quote is in reference to another threat to Puget Sound: Salmon net pen farming. These large enclosed pens concentrate non-native salmon in densities so high that threats from disease and sea lice raise the risks to our native salmon, and the Orca who depend on them, to an unacceptable level. As with shellfish aquaculture, painting these operations as being nothing more than "farming" ignores the very real differences between terrestrial farming (on land) versus activities taking place in a marine ecosystem.
Washington is the only West Coast State to Allow Net Pen Farming
Alaska, Oregon and California have banned net pen farming. Our Sound, Our Salmon is now demanding that Governor Inslee stop following industry's lead and instead take a stand with those who believe there is more to Puget Sound than its ability to generate profits for corporations in the aquaculture industry. [Sign the petition here] They write:
"Puget Sound is our Sound. The salmon that swim in its waters are our salmon. They have been the lifeblood of our past, and they will be the lifeblood of our future.
"Cooke Aquaculture, an Atlantic salmon net pen conglomerate, is threatening the health of Puget Sound with their plans to further transform it into an epicenter of Atlantic salmon net pen production. We cannot risk putting our Sound, our salmon, and our future into the hands of an industry with a long history of negative environmental, social, and economic impacts - impacts that led California, Oregon, and Alaska to wisely ban this industry.
"It’s time for us to stand up for our Sound. It’s time for us to stand up for our salmon. And it’s time we stand up for our future by stopping the expansion of destructive Atlantic salmon net pens in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca." Our Sound, Our Salmon
Infected fish? Just dump them. After they've
been shedding virus for months.
Get involved and get educated
"In Puget Sound, the potential for catastrophic damage to wild fish populations as a result of Atlantic salmon net pens has already been demonstrated. In 2012, an outbreak of Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV) caused the death of over 1 million pounds of net pen salmon. Worse still, this outbreak occurred during the time of year juvenile salmonids are migrating out to sea through Puget Sound." (KING5 - see video clip of news here)
Land based systems exist.
"The quality of the fish is extraordinary, the taste is great,
the look of the fish is fantastic."
Ned Bell, Chef at Four Seasons Hotel, Vancouver BC
You don't need pesticides, antibiotics, nor Puget Sound's open waters
"Kuterra is proof positive that you can grow Atlantic salmon on land in a sustainable and economical way. If Washington wants to increase farmed salmon production, we should do it by helping pioneer a burgeoning, environmentally responsible industry of land-based systems like Kuterra." (See Vimeo clip of Kuterra's upland operation here)
Upland operations, currently operating profitably, separate the "farmed environment from the wild environment." At the same time they also provide a product which is free from pesticides and antibiotics which most consumers do not believe should be in seafood they consume. (See public response when pesticides in Willapa Bay in 2015 were proposed by shellfish growers here)
Genetics at its best.
Disease at its worst.
from Alexandra Morton)
Is this really what you want to be eating?
"On August 23, 2016, Alexandra Norton put a GoPro on a pole and submerged it for ten minutes in a salmon net pen run by Marine Harvest. This video is a compilation of what she saw – large numbers of farmed salmon likely suffering from viruses and Atlantic salmon preying on juvenile wild fish." To get a sense of what the reality of "open net pen" salmon are, look at the short clip taken by Alexandra Morton when cruising on the Sea Shepherd in British Columbia.
Get involved so future generations
are able to experience Puget Sound.
Photo: Heather MacIntyre/The Pacific Whale Watch
Get involved. Tell Governor Inslee there is far more to Puget Sound than the ability to make a profit from open water net pens growing non-native salmon. If you don't
Sign the Our Sound, Our Salmon petition here:
https://www.oursound-oursalmon.org/sign-the-petition#petition
or, Email the Govenor directly:
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