Cooke Aquaculture's Omega Protein Complains of Chesapeake Bay Forage Fish Catch Limits

Chesapeake Bay's Threat to Menhaden Forage Fish 

Just got Even Bigger

Thanks to Cooke Aquaculture

Suggests Virginia go out of compliance

for its benefit. 

Cooke's Omega wants more and suggest Virginia just not adapt new catch limits to go "out of compliance" to help it.
Cooke Aquaculture's Omega Protein - the largest harvester of forage fish in Chesapeake Bay - now wants more, claiming they got "a raw deal" when the new catch limits were recently put in place. Cooke is now suggesting Virginia go out of compliance with the regulations set in place to get a "fair hearing". leaving one more odd milestone in this Canadian based company's legacy. (see news report here)

We need Omega 3 in Puget Sound

for our nonnative Atlantic salmon.

Omega 3 Menhaden obtain from filtering plankton/algae in Cheapeake Bay is needed elsewhere, and Cooke wants more.
Cooke Aquaculture uses forage fish, in part, to feed its worldwide farmed salmon operations which include, in part, those in Puget Sound, growing nonnative Atlantic salmon. The forage fish are needed in order to create the Omega 3 fatty acids farmed salmon are advertised as providing. Not advertised is the huge volume of forage fish, the base of the food chain relied on by other species. Equally important, perhaps more so, is this particular forage fish - Menhaden - are also filter the largest volume of plankton from Chesapeake Bay.

A pig farm is cleaner than a fish farm.
These salmon farm operations exist in the public's open waters. Unlike a pig or chicken farm, where waste is contained and recycled, all waste from a salmon farm simply drifts in the marine ecosystem, wherever the tides may carry it. Whether excess food not consumed or the feces discharged by the fish, the amounts are in the tons. At a recent Senate hearing, it was estimated that one net pen discharged the same amount of waste as a city of 60,000. In the case of Puget Sound, an estimated 250,000 "pigs" escaped into the marine ecosystem when Cooke Aquaculture's negligence led to the collapse of one pen.

Is it any wonder people are upset with Cooke Aquaculture? Tell your elected official these nonnative Atlantic salmon need to go.
Legislative and Congressional contacts:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/