Open season on Atlantic salmon is fun, but the accidental release of thousands of farmed fish near Anacortes raises serious questions for regulators and farm operators.
August 24, 2017 — THE open season on Atlantic salmon fishing right here in Puget Sound, prompted by a broken fish pen near Anacortes, is a fun way to end a remarkable summer.
But the accidental release of thousands of farmed salmon raises serious questions about the oversight of this growing offshore industry.
Myriad state and federal agencies are involved in the permitting of fish farms, yet Cooke Aquaculture still experienced a substantial net-pen failure on Aug. 19 at its farm on Cypress Island, between Guemes and Blakely islands.
That prompted the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to declare open season on the thousands of Atlantic salmon that were released, inviting anglers to catch as many escapees as possible.
An initial flurry of misleading information, suggesting the accident was related to tides during the Aug. 21 eclipse, puts the onus on Cooke Aquaculture to better explain what happened. All operators must do a better job informing the public when incidents occur in publicly owned waters they lease from the state.