HB #2957 Passes! What You Can Do Now
For the past year, Orca Conservancy actively participated in the Our Sound-Our Salmon Coalition, a collaborative campaign of businesses, commercial fishermen, conservation organizations, and individuals across the Puget Sound Region -- all working together -- to phase out farmed Atlantic salmon net pens within Washington State, and joining California, Oregon and Alaska.From a local perspective, most residents in Washington State were completely unaware we even had farmed Atlantic salmon net pens in our waterways. Many were initially shocked, followed by anger, when the news broke in August 2017, that one of eight net pens owned by Cooke Aquaculture, broke open, allowing all 200,000+ diseased farmed Atlantic salmon off of Cypress Island, WA to escape into our waters. It was later confirmed that 100% of the escaped salmon tested positive of a Norwegian strain of Piscine Reovirus (PRV). Science says that PRV is the cause of HSMI, a lethal salmonid disease. HSMI causes a crippling onset of symptoms in salmonids, symptoms that would either kill or render a wild fish incapable of surviving in natural conditions.But, there is good news! On March 23rd, Governor Inslee signed HB 2957 into law, which gives a 12-year phase-out plan to end non-native net pens in Washington State. This is a huge victory for our endangered Southern Resident killer whales who rely on healthy wild salmon populations for their survival.We are grateful to the many organizations who participated in this effort, and especially Governor Inslee for signing HB2957.As farmed Atlantic salmon net pens are phased out within Washington State, unfortunately, our work is not finished. We now turn our efforts in assisting our neighbors in British Columbia who continue the fight to remove farmed Atlantic salmon net pens from their water ways.We need your help.We implore our members, and the public, to think twice before purchasing farmed Atlantic salmon in a grocery store or in a restaurant. By stopping your support as a consumer of the product, you are doing your part in helping to shut these kinds of operations down. Let your family and friends know the real cost of purchasing farmed Atlantic salmon.For more information on the history and destruction created by farmed Atlantic salmon net pens in our waters, we encourage you to watch this video by our friend, and renowned biologist Dr. Alexandra Morton to learn more.