NWAA challenges Washington net-pen ban

On 7 January 2025, the six-person Washington state Board of Natural Resources voted 4-0 with two members abstaining to uphold the proposed rule banning commercial net pens in Washington state.

Hilary Franz told the board that the top duty for the Department of Natural Resources in leasing its aquatic lands is to protect them for future generations.

“There is no debate that there are impacts” from net-pen aquaculture, Franz said. “Avoiding impacts is our legal and moral responsibility. … I ask why did we ever allow this. … I am asking the board to learn from the past and the effects of our decision.”

She was reminded also, she said, that “In the last two weeks (endangered southern resident orca) Tahlequah has lost another baby calf. It is a reminder of how fragile life is and how difficult it is to reverse decline.”

She did not explain the link between threats to orca survival and fish farming.

Parsons said NWAA members had hoped the Board of Natural Resources—some of whom agreed that the January 7 vote left them little time to review the scientific documents submitted in the matter—would have had more time to consider the nearly 500 pages of scientific information NWAA, agencies, and scientists had submitted into the Record. He noted that DNR relied, and admitted to doing so, on its own science rather than the science that other respected agencies such as NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife had submitted into the record.

“This ban was rushed through,” Parsons said, adding that “NWAA hopes that a more thorough Judicial Review of the rule will result in a decision to invalidate the rule banning commercial net pens so we can return to what we have been doing in this state for more than 40 years: Growing nutritious, high-quality fish that consumers can afford.”

NWAA’s members include leaders in the production of finfish and shellfish in freshwater and marine environments as well as support businesses in Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska. Representing NWAA in its litigation is the Pacific Northwest firm, Northwest Resource Law PLLC.