Saving Seafood

Puget Sound fish farm shutdown at odds with Biden plan

November 17, 2022 — The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has prevailed in a years’ long effort to end fin fish farming in state-owned waters of Puget Sound, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz has announced.

However, the decision appears to be at odds with the Biden administration’s five-year plan, unveiled in October, to increase aquaculture in the United States.

Franz announced Nov. 14 that the last two fin-fish net pen leases, held by Cooke Aquaculture, will not be renewed by the state. The company is using its existing operations to raise steelhead trout.

Franz stated that the effort to terminate the leases began with lease violations by the lessee and noted the Cypress Island net pen collapse in 2017 which resulted in some 200,000 salmon escaping into the bay, according to a WDNR statement.

Read he full article at the Center Square

New Program Gives Vet Foothold in Fisheries

November 22, 2016 — Barney Boyer’s first few months as a NOAA Fisheries intern have been busy. He has assisted with tracking the return of salmon and forage fish to the Elwha River estuary, surveyed Puget Sound ocean conditions, and begun studying the invasion of non-native fish in the Snohomish River.

Boyer is the first military veteran to take an internship with NOAA Fisheries through a new partnership between Washington’s The next link/button will exit from NWFSC web site Department of Veterans Affairs and The next link/button will exit from NWFSC web site Veterans Conservation Corps, NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region, the The next link/button will exit from NWFSC web site NOAA Restoration Center and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC). Boyer is based at the NWFSC’s Mukilteo Research Station, near Everett, where he is assisting with several research projects, including one that may include him as co-author of a peer-reviewed paper.

“It’s really turned out to be an amazing experience so far,” Boyer said. “Every day here is an interesting experience, and I’m learning all the time.”

Casey Rice, director of the Mukilteo Research Station until his unexpected passing earlier this year, was a key advocate of hosting veterans at Mukilteo.

“Casey wanted this to happen and his colleagues have assumed the task of moving it forward,” said John Floberg of the NOAA Restoration Center, who helped coordinate the program. “It’s Casey’s legacy that veterans are now contributing to research at Mukilteo.”

Read the full story at the Fishing Wire