Cooke's plans to continue operating in Washington state are running up against opposition from the public and NGOs, who were not prepared for Cooke's suggestion to switch species.

Washington residents are being given more time to comment on Cooke's plans to harvest trout at some of its former salmon-filled Puget Sound sites "due to feedback from stakeholders and constituents requesting extra time to review the documentation and provide comments," state officials confirmed with IntraFish.

"I don't think the public was thinking you could just switch species. It's circumventing the public's will," Kurt Beardslee, executive director of the Washington state-based nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy, told IntraFish.

Beardslee said the nonprofit strongly opposes Cooke's new plan, noting the company's less-than-stellar record of raising seafood in the state.

Cooke currently has 800,000 Atlantic salmon stocked in its remaining pens, down from 3.5 million fish a few years ago. In 2017 Cooke's catastrophic netpen collapse allowed more than 250,000 non-native fish to escape into Puget Sound.

The following year, Washington’s Legislature reacted by passing a new law to phase out non-native species in marine fish farming by 2022.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee echoed Beardslee's concerns as early as last March when he signed the bill banning non-native finfish aquaculture in the state into law.

At the time Inslee also vetoed a section of the bill he said he fundamentally disagreed with that would have allowed the legislature to "revisit the issue of marine finfish aquaculture once additional research becomes available."

A spokeswoman for Inslee told IntraFish the Governor's Office is aware of the public comment period occuring for Cooke right now.

"As that process unfolds, we will continue to have ongoing conversations with tribes and state agencies," she said.

One of the biggest issues with Cooke is it will continue to use a netpen system with its plans to harvest trout, Beardslee said.

"It doesn't change the amount of pollution, pharmaceuticals and chemicals that go into the Puget Sound," he said. "The public's voice was clear. They wanted netpens out of the Puget Sound."

Move to land-based

Beardslee said one way Cooke could operate sustainably in Washington state would be to become a land-based operation, where the company could even look to operating in eastern Washington.

He pointed to companies such as the Canadian land-based salmon farmer Sustainable Blue, whose operation uses a water treatment technology that cleans, recycles and regulates water inside a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm with zero discharge.

"That's where the industry is moving, and that's what the consumer is looking for," he said. "They (Cooke) need to catch up with what the consumer wants, and that would also be in their best economic interest as well."

Cooke Aquaculture Spokesperson Joel Richardson told IntraFish what nonprofits such as Wild Fish Conservancy don't take into consideration is that farmed salmon is one of the most energy-efficient farmed animals, with a smaller carbon footprint than cows, pork, beef or chicken.

"To grow fish to market size on land and meet the global demand would require massive amounts of land, water and energy," he said.

"The aquatic science community and regulators know that decades of peer-reviewed research show that fish farms have little long-term impact on the marine environment – that’s why marine fish farming exists. Fish farmed in the ocean is a top food choice for those who want to reduce their environmental footprint."

Cooke's Richardson declined to comment on whether Cooke would consider switching to a method other than netpen farming when asked by IntraFish.

Instead, he pointed to the company's recently-announced partnership with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to rear sablefish and Northwest native sterile triploid, all-female rainbow trout in Washington state at the company's Port Angeles site.

"The joint venture will require investment into communities and support local jobs in the area," he said. "As partners, we are following the procedures the state has in place to review finfish farming applications. Trout farming has been done in Washington for many years and there are local companies with significant expertise in growing this species from egg to plate."

Aquaculture

Cooke facing headwinds for trout plans in Washington state