SEATTLE — Washington prohibited fish-farming with web pens in state waters on Friday, pointingout risk to havingahardtime native salmon.
Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz released an executive order prohibiting the aquaculture technique, which includes raising fish in big floating pens anchored in the water and hasactually been practiced in Puget Sound for more than 3 years.
California, Oregon and Alaska have currently forbidden net-pen aquaculture, and Canada is working on a strategy to stage it out of British Columbia’s seaside waters by2025 Supporters state fish-farming is an ecologically safe method to feed the world’s growing population; critics argue that it can spread illness to native stocks and deteriorate the environment.
“As we’ve seen too plainly here in Washington, there is no method to securely farm fish in open sea web pens without endangering our havingahardtime native salmon,” Franz stated. “I’m proud to stand with the rest of the West Coast today by stating our waters are far too essential to threat for fish farming earnings.”
Salmon aquaculture is amongst the fastest-growing food production systems in the world, according to the World Wildlife Foundation. It accounts for about 70% of the market. In 2018 the World Resources Institute launched a report that stated the market requires to more than double by 2050 to satisfy the seafood needs of 10 billion individuals.
Since 2016, all of the web pens in Washington’s marine waters haveactually been owned by the exactsame business — New Brunswick, Canada-based seafood giant Cooke Aquaculture. In a declaration earlier this week, after the state stated it would end the business’s staying rents in Puget Sound, the business stated it was dissatisfied.
“Environmental companies and Commissioner Franz are selecting to overlook the reality that farm-raised fish is one of the healthiest and most effective methods to feed the worldwide population with a verylittle ecological i