Commercial net pen aquaculture planning meeting March 23

You are invited to attend the next planning meeting for updating the Recommendations for Managing Commercial Net Pen Aquaculture in Washington’s straits and estuaries.

Join us in person or by phone

Those interested may attend in person or by phone. Directions on how to participate through the conference call are listed below.

When: March 23
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Washington Department of Ecology headquarters auditorium
Address: 300 Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA, 98503

State employees learn more about day-to-day operations
from Keven Bright of Cooke Aquaculture Pacific.
Photo by Lori LeVander/Ecology.

Updating the planning tools for commercial net pens

We are working with the Washington departments of Fish & Wildlife and Agriculture to update the state's 30-year-old management guidelines for commercial net pen aquaculture.

Through this project, we aim to deliver modern scientific information to guide state agency, tribal and local government decision makers in siting, managing, and regulating net pens in Washington’s marine waters.

The final report will provide recommendations only - not a rule or law. Regulatory agencies will determine how these recommendations will be incorporated into their decisions around managing commercial net pen aquaculture. A key objective is to provide tools that enable decision makers to protect native Pacific salmon.

Learn more about the project on our Recommendations for Managing Net Pen Aquaculture webpage. Subscribe to the project listserv to receive email updates.

Draft meeting agenda

This is the third in a series of project planning team meetings, which are open to the public. This meeting will focus on project updates, learning about various aspects of commercial net pen management through fact-finding presentations, and next steps in the project.

8:00 to 10:30 a.m. - Project planning and updates

• Public comment period results
• Recommendations for planning team consideration

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. - Geospatial analysis options

11:30 to 12:15 p.m. - Lunch break

12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Fact-finding presentations

• 12:45 to 1:00 NPDES permitting - Ecology Water Quality program
• 1:00 to 1:45 Current operations - Cooke Aquaculture Pacific
• 1:45 to 2:30  Disease management - Fish & Wildlife Fish Health unit
• 2:30 to 3:15 Public comments - Participants from the public

3:15 to 3:30 p.m. - Next steps

Join the call & view materials

You’re invited to join our next planning team meeting via conference call if you’re unable to join us in Lacey.

Call in number: 641-715-0632  Access code: 542294#

Get materials

Meeting materials will be posted online in the project library on Wednesday, March 22.

Questions?

If you are interested in providing a presentation to the planning team during the public comment session, please contact the project coordinator Cedar Bouta at 360-407-6406.