Commercial finfish pen aquaculture appears finished in Washington State, after the Board of Natural Resources voted Jan. 7 to ban the industry.

The vote was a victory for Washington State’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, who pushed for strict limitations on leasing state tidelands for aquaculture.

“Avoiding impacts is our legal and moral responsibility,” Franz said, according to the Seattle Times. “I ask why did we ever allow this…I am asking the board to learn from the past and the effects of our decision.”

Under pressure since a 2017 pen collapse that released an estimated 263,000 farmed Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound, Cooke Aquaculture and other industry advocates have fought since to preserve their presence in the Pacific Northwest. 

The industry has been under a virtual shutdown, struggling with the state Department of Natural Resources over applications by Cooke and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to raise black cod and steelhead in net pens.  

Drue Banta Winters, campaign manager for the aquaculture group Stronger America Through Seafood, said the Washington State decision goes against scientific findings “that find no harm to Endangered Species Act-listed salmonids from the operations of existing farms.” 

“This decision in Washington State is out of step with the growing bipartisan momentum for open ocean aquaculture across the country and in the nation’s capital, as Americans and environmentalists recognize that aquaculture can be conducted without harming the environment, is beneficial for our communities, and is a sustainable source of protein farmed here at home.” 

The viability of commercial aquaculture in Washington waters is hotly debated on economic and environmental grounds, with support split among the state’s tribal and seafood advocates.