State ends Hope Island fish pen operations

A local controversy that has lingered for more than three decades will soon be an historical footnote.

The net pen salmon farm off Hope Island and Lone Tree Point is going away.

Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and state Department of Natural Resources staff informed Cooke Aquaculture last week that the state will not renew an expired lease for the Skagit Bay facility, nor one for a similar net pen operation near Bainbridge Island.

Cooke Aquaculture must finish operations and begin removing its facilities and repairing any environmental damage by Dec. 14.

Friday Franz announced Washington's public aquatic lands will no longer be home to finfish net pen aquaculture.

The state actions come five years after a net pen collapse and escape of 300,000 farmed fish from a Cooke operation off Cypress Island near Anacortes.

Swinomish Tribal Senate Chairman Steve Edwards was among those applauding the reversal of a pro-aquaculture stance that had been part of the state's fisheries management for generations.

"We're very pleased that Commissioner Franz rejected Cook Aquaculture's lease application," Edwards said in a statement. "Removal of the existing net pen (off Hope Island) will restore full access to the tribe's culturally important fishing area in northern Skagit Bay.

"Swinomish are the People of the Salmon, and fishing has been our way of life since time immemorial," Edwards added. "Cooke's net pens have interfered with the exercise of our treaty rights for far too long. We look forward to the day when the Hope Island net facility will be a distant memory."

Siting a net pen operation here has been a point of contention from the get-go.

Snee-Oosh area residents, led by Dale Fisher and banding together as the Kiket Bay Organization, voiced objections when the facility was proposed in the late 1980s. They raised concerns of potential environmental and aesthetic impacts and noted that the permitting process for aquaculture was more stringent elsewhere.

At the time, there was popular support for fish farms. Advocates envisioned a "Blue Revolution" on Puget Sound like the "Green Revolution" that emerged in agriculture in the 20th century.

Science, too, sided with salmon net pens 35 years ago. Biologists joined aquaculture specialists when the proposed Hope Island facility went before Skagit County Commissioners in November of 1987. Some contended there was no evidence of pollution nor evidence of disease associated with fish farming.

There was anticipation that aquaculture projects would provide employment opportunities and provide a ripple effect for the La Conner area economy.

Those perspectives, impacted by the Cypress Island net pen collapse, have undergone a 180-degree change. Cooke was fined $332,000 and found negligent by the state Department of Ecology and the Cypress net pens were removed in 2018.

Tom Wooten, chairman of the Samish Indian Nation, located on Fidalgo Island west of La Conner, shared Edwards' enthusiasm for the state's decision.

"By removing the Sound's remaining net pens, our delicate ecosystem now gets a chance to replenish, repair and heal," Wooten said. "We are grateful and lift our hands to the DNR's partnership in helping protect the Salish Sea that ties us to our history and culture."