Puget Sound Is Under Stress: Help Protect Native Species and Preserve and Restore Puget Sound

"Don’t buy the lies and bullying tactics of the industry spokesmen who sit on our local boards and collect their paychecks while trying to buy us off with a few clams, like their forefathers did with the Tribes over the centuries." Olympic Peninsula Environmental News

2/3 of killer whale pregnancies fail -

because of low availability 

of Chinook Salmon.

(Click here to read of Orca birth failures)

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.  

(From KING5)

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 Hard Evidence, a short video clip

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:

https://fortress.wa.gov/es/governor/

NOAA Rejects Pacific Legal Foundation Petition to Remove Puget Sound Orcas from Endangered Species List

Southern Resident Orcas

San Juan Islands, WA



(photo from NOAA)

 

In a NOAA press release issued today, it announced it has rejected a petition filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) to remove Puget Sound's southern resident Orca population from the list of endangered species.

 

Pacific Legal Foundation's

Attorney Damien Schiff



"would like to litigate"

 

Government, subsidies and litigation

August 2 of 2012, PLF's Principal Attorney Damien Schiff filed a petition with NOAA requesting the southern resident Orcas be removed from the ESA list. In the petition PLF claimed the group was not genetically distinct, only geographically distinct and that "erring on the side of caution" leads to an "end justifies the means" philosophy, resulting in the listing of a subspecies as endangered. This "ends justifies the means" has also been used by Corey Goodman to question the motives of those who believe Drakes Estero should be allowed to become a marine wilderness area, currently prevented by Drakes Bay Oyster Company's continued commercial operation.

 

The petition was filed on behalf of CESAR (Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy and Reliability,a nonprofit organization dedicated to "scientific rigor" in environmental regulations), Empresas Del Bosque Farms (2,200 acres growing cantaloupes, almonds and asparagus which has received $323,006 in government crop subsidies) and the Coburn Ranch (4,000 acres growing almonds, grapes and various row crops which has received over $5 million in government crop subsidies). PLF maintains the "family run farms" are harmed by the government, but neglects to mention this same burdensome government has also provided millions in subsidies to them.

 

PLF attorney Damien's response to the rejection of their petition was "...the finding does tee up various issues that we would like to litigate over." He does not say what the "various issues" are which he and PLF would like to "litigate" over. Farm subsidies will likely not be one of the "issues" teed up.

 

Pacific Legal Foundation - well funded to "litigate" in Washington or California

The Pacific Legal Foundation is one of the oldest conservative groups believing in limited government and protecting businesses from what it perceives as unfair burdens, especially when those "burdens" relate to environmental regulations. At the end of 2012 they had amassed over $33 million in net assets, having  received over $8 million in donations in 2012 alone. Of those amounts, they spent "only" $4 million in "legal activities" in 2012.

 

They have been active in minimizing regulatory oversight of shoreline owners in various Puget Sound counties as well as the California Coastal Commission, with the latter being referred to as a "power-hungry band of regulators". The California Coastal Commission is now embroiled in law suits with Drake's Bay Oyster Company over coastal violations it has failed to act on.

 

In addition to PLF's involvement in trying to de-list the southern resident Orcas they are also involved in supporting Drake's Bay Oyster Company. Attempts by public relations firms to distance Drakes Bay Oyster Company from associations with conservative groups have to date failed, primarily because it still continues. Recent appearances on conservative radio talk shows have not helped with the "message". 

 

Tar is sticky
As Steven Maviglio noted in is piece for the California Majority Report, the attempt by Drake's Bay Oyster Company to distance itself from the conservative right-wing groups it has associated with is not something it can simply walk away from and pretend didn't happen. Ongoing relations with the Pacific Legal Foundation who have brought attention to a northwest icon, the endangered southern resident Orcas, makes the road they walk on very sticky.



 

Update 8/3: Getting further bogged down in the tar.
Corey Goodman, neuroscientist and past Stanford professor who supports Drake's Bay Oyster Company "debated" a citizen, Bruce Kranzler, on the nuances of scientific research today with conservative talk show host "MZ" on KSCO. One has to admire Mr. Kranzler for his willingness to listen to Goodman's displeasure about the data not being "perfect" as it was in examples he used when teaching within the walls of Stanford University.

Update 8/6: Bruce Kranzler comments on Drakes Bay Oyster Company's Public Relations press and the "debate" with Kevin Lunny and the great Dr. Corey Goodman on The California Majority Report.