Farmed Salmon Don’t Belong Here

The author has compiled an excellent history of Washington’s status, to date, with marine net pens (“Atlantic Salmon, Net Pens and Risks to Native Salmon,” October 2017). However, the experience in Scotland and First Nations of British Columbia paint a very different picture.

Pesticides used to treat sea lice on penned salmon poisoned over 45 lochs on the West Coast of Scotland. The Scottish experience is mirrored by what scientist Alexandra Morton is finding in net pens on First Nations territory — pens that were not approved by the First Nations tribes. Deformed salmon, wild herring captured inside the pens, etc.

Almost more startling is a report on the catastrophic destruction of net pen salmon by industry in Scotland. According to The Sunday Herald (Scotland), “The Scottish fish farming industry has admitted that it threw away up to 10 million salmon last year — nearly a quarter of its stock — because of diseases, parasites and other problems.” See the full article at www.heraldscotland.com/news).

We do not need this industry in Washington’s marine waters.

Heather McFarlane

Gig Harbor