January 17, 2022

Cooke Aquaculture Pacific permitted to farm steelhead trout in Washington, US waters

Permits that will allow Cooke Aquaculture Pacific to farm steelhead trout in net pens in Washington, US waters were upheld in a unanimous 9-0 decision by the US state's Supreme Court on January 13.

The decision clears the permit hurdle for the international aquaculture giant to change up its operations in Washington from farming Atlantic salmon to steelhead.

That's good news for Cooke — and the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe, which in 2019, announced a joint venture with Cooke Aquaculture Pacific to rear native steelhead trout.

"The tribe has two interwoven goals in everything we do — to be stewards of the environment in protecting the unique ecosystems of our homelands and the Salish Sea and continue to gather our treaty resources to fund programmes and services for our tribal citizens," said W. Ron Allen, chairman of the tribe in a prepared statement. "Aquaculture allows us to utilise best practices in protecting the environment while continuing our traditional industries growing and gathering marine-based resources."

Joel Richardson, vice president of public relations for Cooke, said the Supreme Court opinion "lays to rest the array of disinformation about marine aquaculture being irresponsibly circulated by activist groups."

The Washington state Legislature in 2018 phased out Atlantic salmon farming in Washington waters following a spill of about 263,000 nearly mature Atlantics from Cooke's pens at Cypress Island in August of 2017.

Cooke is pivoting to farm steelhead, a native species, with fish that are altered in a Washington-based fish farm to be sterile.

The court's decision affirms the five-year marine finfish aquaculture permit the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) issued to Cooke in January 2020. Cooke is already rearing all female, sterile steelhead trout at two locations, its Hope Island net pen near the mouth of the Skagit River and its Clam Bay net pen in Rich Passage.

WDFW issued permits to move fish into the net pens in August 2021 at Hope Island and Clam Bay in October 2021. Both sites are now fully stocked.

Opponents argued in King County Superior Court that WDFW had not adequately reviewed the permit under state administrative procedures or required adequate environmental review. The opponents, who lost the case, wanted the court to overturn the permits and require an environmental-impact statement.

The state and Cooke argued the review fulfilled all legal requirements — and two courts have now agreed.

Kelly Susewind, director of WDFW, said that, while Cooke's net pens "are not a zero-risk" operation, "we required Cooke Aquaculture to adhere to 29 mitigating provisions to guide operation of its facilities, to prevent and report potential disease, and to reduce the risk of fish escaping and improve reporting in the event of escape."

- The Seattle Times