ACTION ALERT: Submit a Comment to Permanently Ban Commercial Net Pens

On January 7, 2025, the Washington State Board of Natural Resources (BNR) is voting on whether or not to retain the executive order passed in November 2022 prohibiting commercial finfish net pen aquaculture on owned aquatic lands. The executive order is set to expire in January 2025. Please send a comment or sign the petition urging the BNR to uphold the executive order banning commercial net pens to protect wild salmon stocks and the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

Members of Orca Conservancy along with Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition floatilla

What are commercial net pens and why do they matter?

A net pen, otherwise known as a sea cage, is an enclosed floating cage that holds farmed fish. The structure includes mesh nets that prevent fish from entering the environment and protects fish from predators while allowing water to flow freely through the enclosures.

Commercial net pens pose a variety of environmental issues that threaten wild fish populations and the entire ecosystem. Some of the threats include Piscine Orthorevoris (PRV), Sea Lice, sedimentation and pollution beneath pens, phytoplankton blooms, chemical and antibiotic inputs, and escapes.

How does this impact the whales?

The critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs) are on the decline and face multiple threats which include lack of food and toxic pollution. Commercial net pens pose a risk to the endangered SRKWs by compounding the two threats of lack of food and pollution by contributing to the pollution in the critical habitat of SRKWs and also posing a risk to the food source that SRKWs depend on, wild salmon.

How and Where to Submit a Comment:

1. Sign the Our Sound, Our Salmon Petition to the Board of Natural Resources

2. Contact the Board of Natural Resources

Our Sound, Our Salmon, and Wild Fish Conservancy have put together an action alert template where you can personalize a message and it will be delivered to all six board members and the Governor’s Office.
*Note: This email form has a pre-written message. We encourage you to change it and add your own message to ensure that your comment is counted. See the suggested talking points below for help and ideas on what to say.

3. Contact the Board Members of Natural Resources Directly

Reaching out to board members directly, rather than relying on prewritten templates, tends to have a more significant impact and fosters a stronger, more personal connection.

Contacts:
Hilary Franz, Chair of the Board, Commissioner of Public Lands, cpl@dnr.wa.gov

Lisa Janicki, Vice-Chair, Commissioner, Skagit County, lisaj@co.skagit.wa.us

Chris Reykdal, Superintendent, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, superintendent@k12.wa.us

Wendy Powers-Schilling, Dean, College of Agriculture, Human & Natural Resources Sciences, Washington State University, w.powers-schilling@wsu.edu

Dan Brown, Director, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, danbro@uw.edu

*Clare Ryan, Interim Director, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, cmryan@uw.edu

Jim Cahill, Senior Budget Advisor, Designee for Governor Jay Inslee, jim.cahill@ofm.wa.gov

General Email for the Board of Natural Resources: bnr@dnr.wa.gov

4. Attend The Board of Natural Resources meeting on Tuesday, January 7, 2025

The meeting will be held on January 7, 2025, at 9am in Olympia, Washington. Attendees can join in person or virtually.
For information on how to register to make a comment during the meeting, or attend the virtual session, visit the Board Of Natural Resources Meeting Registration Instructions

Tips for how to write an email or letter:

• Be respectful and polite in your comment, email, or letter.

• Get personal, share your experiences and why you care. Personal messages carry more sentiment and weight which are more meaningful and can have a bigger impact on policymakers.

• Avoid pre-written copy-and-paste templates. New practices make it so pre-written templates only get counted once. Meaning if multiple people submit the same exact comment, letter, or email, it will only be recorded once. Make it personal and unique to make sure it is counted.

• Cite relevant data that supports your comment.

Suggested talking points:

• 2024 saw the birth and death of three newborn calves (J60, L128, and J62) along with the loss of two adult breeding males (L85, and K26 - missing, will likely be declared deceased on the upcoming census). The population is holding in the low 70s because there is not enough fish to sustain population growth. To ensure calves and breeding members survive, there needs to be enough fish to support growth. Commercial net pens will only further exasperate the lack of food, further risking the endangered Southern Residents.

• The remaining 73 Southern Resident killer whales are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Commercial net pens will be in violation of this act as it poses a threat to the main food source (Chinook salmon) and the entire ecosystem on which the Southern Residents depend.

• Killer whales are at the top of the food chain. Pollution caused by commercial net pens will enter into the ecosystem, causing irreversible damage and contributing to the ongoing issues facing the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

• SRKWs already face threats of toxic pollution, commercial net pens create toxic pollution through large volumes of waste that contain feces, uneaten food, drugs, pesticides, fungicides, and other potentially harmful pathogens.

• Washington State has seen an incident of non-native Atlantic Salmon escaping into the ecosystem in 2018, which lead to Washington Legislation phasing out Atlantic salmon net pens altogether. To protect Washington’s water and vital ecosystems the remaining net pens must be removed to prevent additional escapes like the one in 2018.

• The ecological risks associated with commercial pens far outweigh the commercial benefits.

• Commercial demand can be met through more sustainable options such as land-based recirculating aquaculture systems which utilize closed pens that do not risk contaminating local ecosystems with waste and disease while also mitigating any chance of escape.

• Harmful algae blooms which can be caused by net pens not only pose a risk to the ecosystem and wildlife, they also pose a health risk to humans and local communities.

• Commercial net pens pose risks to local economies through the decline of wild fish and shellfish populations. It will also have negative consequences for tribal communities as well as commercial and recreational fisheries.

Learn More about the impact of net pens: