Saving Seafood

NWAA’s Hugh Mitchell: Aquaculture is being unfairly demonized

February 14, 2019 — Aquaculture is being unfairly demonized, and that’s not good for industry or the planet, according to Hugh Mitchell, a newly appointed board member of the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance.

Mitchell, a fish health expert and co-owner the Kirkland, Washington, U.S.A.-based fish health supply distributor and consultancy company Aquatactics, said he joined the board of the organization formerly known as the Washington Fish Growers Association to help fight the stigma surrounding aquaculture, which he said is particularly virulent in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

“The message [regarding aquaculture] right now is wrong,” Mitchell told SeafoodSource. “I think aquaculture is the key to saving the aquatic ecosystems. It’s not a threat by any means.”

Mitchell, a veterinarian with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and a master’s degree in aquatic ecology, has been working in the field for 30 years. He said he looked forward to trying to make a difference in his role as a board member for the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA). Founded in 2009, the NWAA is a trade association that recently went through a rebranding and now represents regional fish famers and aquaculture across the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, as well as the province of British Columbia, Canada.

NWAA Board President John Dentler said that Mitchell’s appointment to the board is “an endorsement of our mission to bring a science-based discussion to the important conversation about aquaculture that is happening here and around the world.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Science Ignored in New Anti-Aquaculture Law

March 23, 2018 — OLYMPIA, Wash. — As the leading trade association representing Washington’s multi-million-dollar finfish aquaculture industry, WFGA is deeply disappointed by Governor Inslee’s failure to take science into consideration by signing into law HB 2957. Our organization holds the position—supported by leading fisheries scientists—that this law completely lacks any scientific basis.

We are additionally dismayed by the fact that in early March of this year, a group of concerned scientists reached out to the state legislature, refuting the basis of HB 2957 and outlining the best peer-reviewed science available to date. In an Open Letter to the State Legislature, nine leading fisheries scientists challenged the key assumptions in HB 2957 having to do with purported interbreeding between Atlantics and native species, colonization, disease transfer, and competition for food. In passing HB 2957 by a 31-16 vote, it was clear that the legislature chose to ignore the science in favor of other political considerations.

After the vote, we reached out to Governor Inslee, urging him to veto HB 2957.

At the same time, the signatories to the Open Letter to the legislature requested a meeting with the Governor. While the Governor was not available to meet, a small group of scientists met with the Governor’s staff to present the science and request that the Governor veto the most troublesome sections of HB 2957 or postpone implementation until the study in Section I was completed.

By the actions taken today by Governor Inslee, it is clear that science has taken a back seat to politics in our state’s natural resources policymaking.

Our association includes many Washington subsidiaries of international companies, representing all sectors of the seafood value chain, from egg producers to feed suppliers, equipment manufacturers, vaccine companies, technology companies, and producers of freshwater species such as trout and steelhead.

We are concerned that this ill-conceived and fundamentally flawed legislation may be sending the wrong message to companies seeking to do business in Washington.

Read the full statement by the Washington Fish Growers Association at Value Spectrum

 

Cooke Aquaculture continuing to fight Washington ban even as it ponders next steps

March 9, 2018 — In an interview with SeafoodSource, Cooke Vice President of Communications Joel Richardson discussed his company’s efforts to convince Washington Governor Jay Inslee of the merits of the industry as the governor considers signing a bill that would phase out non-native finfish aquaculture in his state. Richardson also discussed the formulation of his company’s back-up plan in case it was unsuccessful in convincing the governor to veto the bill.

SeafoodSource: Is Cooke making any efforts to reach out to Gov. Inslee as he considers signing the bill?

Richardson: Yes, we will continue to reach out to Gov. Inslee over the coming days to urge him to veto HB 2957. Over the last few months we have provided Gov. Inslee and all legislators in Washington with evidence-based science from well-respected, credible fishery scientists to inform and educate on sea farming practices.  We are also aware that the Washington Fish Growers Association is now urging Governor Jay Inslee to veto the bill this week calling on a ban on Atlantic salmon aquaculture in state waters “Ill-conceived and politically motivated rather than based on the best available science.”

SeafoodSource: In what ways was science not taken into proper account by legislators as they considered the bill?

Richardson: You will have to ask the governor and legislators to answer that question.  However, in the aquaculture industry’s view, it’s appalling that that lawmakers have ignored calls to drop the ban from some of the world’s top aquaculture and fisheries scientists, including from the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, who refuted false and misleading claims made by anti-sea farming groups, tribes, and politicians that Atlantic salmon, when and if they escape, could interbreed with Pacific stocks or colonize rivers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that the science from decades of peer-reviewed research does not support the conspiracy theory that Atlantic salmon that escape from net pens will colonize our rivers and/or interbreed with native stocks.

Read the full interview at Seafood Source