New salmon farm proposed for Washington State
It has been a long time since the last application for a new salmon farm was submitted to the authorities in Washington State, but that is about to change, as reported recently by the Peninsula Daily News;
Pacific Aquaculture, a division of Pacific Seafoods, wants to lease 180 acres in the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the Lyre and Twin rivers to raise steelhead and Atlantic salmon. “It's an ideal location,” said John Bielka, Pacific Aquaculture general manager, in a Friday interview with the Peninsula Daily News. Bielka said the constant flushing action of the Strait would allow the waste to be “quickly swept away and assimilated by the marine food web.” Pacific Aquaculture will meet with regulatory agencies in Clallam County early next month before submitting an application. “We'll see if it's economically feasible to develop the project further,” Bielka said. Bielka said the fish farm would be 1½ to 2 miles offshore. It would have two rows of large circular net pens, 24 altogether. One row would grow steelhead, and the other would grow Atlantic salmon. American Gold Seafoods now operates two hatcheries near Rochester in Thurston County and has 120 pens off Port Angeles, Bainbridge Island, Cypress Island and Hope Island. Bielka said most Atlantic salmon are farmed off British Columbia, Norway and Chile. The Seattle Times reported Thursday that 85 percent of fish and shellfish consumed in the U.S. is imported. “We, as an American company, would like to see some of that produced locally to keep the jobs in the state,” Bielka said. “This operation has the potential to produce 20 jobs at the farm and up to 60 people for the processing facility.” Bielka said it is a “real possibility” that the processing plant would be in Clallam County. Pacific Seafood farms steelhead in the Columbia River in Eastern Washington, working closely with the Colville tribe. Bielka said the company has strong ties with the tribes of the North Olympic Peninsula. It buys the majority of the fish caught in Neah Bay, he said. “We have strong ties with tribal entities as a company,” Bielka said. He said the sediment released from the Elwha River dams would not affect the fish farm if it is approved and built.
