The Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA) has dropped its lawsuit against the U.S. state of Washington’s ban on net-pen aquaculture.
Conservation groups, including Duvall, Washington, U.S.A.-based nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC), were quick to celebrate the move, which was approved by the Superior Court of Washington for Thurston County on 30 March.
“This is a landmark, decisive victory for Washington, closing the chapter on a long fight led by the public to protect the health of Puget Sound,” WFC Executive Director Emma Helverson said in a release. “For nearly a decade, the public took on a powerful global industry and fought tirelessly to reclaim our waters and turn that vision into lasting law. With this final challenge dismissed, the fight is over. This industry is gone, the ban is permanent, and commercial net-pen aquaculture will never again threaten the health of our wild salmon, orcas, or Puget Sound. This victory stands as a testament to what we can achieve when we stand together with the law and science on our side.”
Washington’s finfish aquaculture has faced an uphill battle against state lawmakers, officials, and conservation groups since 2017, when hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped into the wild from a Cooke-operated fish farm on Cypress Island. In the immediate aftermath, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke was fined, and the state legislature decided to ban the farming of fish that are not native to the region.
Cooke and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, with whom the aquaculture giant partners on its Washington-based operations, switched from raising Atlantic salmon to Pacific steelhead trout to comply with the state’s ban, but their attempt to continue aquaculture operations was opposed by then-Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. Franz decided not to renew the company’s aquaculture leases.
“Since the catastrophic Cypress Island net-pen collapse in 2017, I have stood tall to defend the waters of Puget Sound,” Franz said in 2022 after the final Cooke leases were terminated. “This effort began by terminating finfish net-pen operations due to lease violations. Despite years of litigation – and a company that has fought us every step of the way – we are now able to deny lease renewals for the remaining net-pen sites. Today, we are returning our waters to wild fish and natural habitat. Today, we are freeing Puget Sound of enclosed cages. This is a critical step to support our waters, fishermen, tribes, and the native salmon that we are so ferociously fighting to save.”
That same year, Franz issued an executive order banning all finfish farming in state waters.
Both Cooke and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe sued over the order, and a judge ultimately ruled that the order “has no legal effect.” However, the judge left a pathway forward for the ban to be enacted, finding that the executive order was merely the start of a rulemaking process that needed to be completed.
The Washington State Board of Natural Resources completed that process in January 2025 and finalized the ban.
Shortly thereafter, NWAA stepped in to challenge the ban in court, arguing that the rulemaking process was predetermined to ban net-pen aquaculture and ignored “the best-available science.”
“This ban was rushed through,” NWAA President Jim Parsons said at the time. “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.”
Just over a year later, NWAA has now dropped the lawsuit.
“Washington made history by banning this dangerous industry from our public waters. It serves as a model for other states seeking to preserve our oceans for future generations. The aquaculture industry’s decision to give up its challenge affirms what science and the public have made clear for years: These operations pose unacceptable risks and were properly outlawed,” Center for Food Safety Staff Attorney Kingsly A. McConnell said in a release.
