The Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA) has sued the U.S. state of Washington’s Department of Natural Resources over a recently finalized rule banning net pen aquaculture.
The lawsuit comes after the department approved a rule banning finfish farming in state waters, codifying a ban that had been implemented unilaterally by Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz in 2022. A court ultimately ruled that the executive order had “no legal effect” and was simply the beginning of a rulemaking process. Following the court ruling, Franz worked to complete the rulemaking process to codify the ban, and in January 2025 the State Board of Natural Resources voted to finalize the rule.
In a statement following the vote, Franz said the ban was necessary to protect area salmon and orca populations, referencing well-known orca Talequah.
“The crisis of our Puget Sound and salmon and orca populations, calls for avoidance. Avoidance is our legal and moral responsibility. In the last two weeks, Talequah has lost another baby calf. It is a reminder of how fragile life is for our orcas and our salmon. But also how challenging it is for us,” then-commissioner Franz said after the vote. “No one can say these facilities don’t have an impact. They do. There’s a cost to our agency, there’s a cost to our waters and our bedlands, there’s a cost to our salmon and our orcas. I don’t believe that cost is worth it. Avoidance is absolutely our best solution.”
Franz left office in January at the end of her term.
However, NWAA President Jim Parsons claims that rulemaking process was conducted with a predetermined outcome, and the alliance has sued to have the rule invalidated.
Franz “conducted a predetermined and inadequate rulemaking process that ignored the best-available science and ignored the intent of the State Legislature when it set forth a new law allowing for the production of native species in commercial net pens,” Parsons said in a statement.
NWAA’s lawsuit claims the “DNR failed to satisfy Administrative Procedure Act (APA) procedures; stepped beyond its statutory authority; promulgated arbitrary and capricious rules; and violated State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requirements” in instituting the new rule. The alliance has asked the court to strike down the net pen ban.
“This ban was rushed through,” Parsons said. “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.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers in the neighboring state of Oregon have proposed their own net pen aquaculture ban. Although Oregon does not currently have any net pen fish farming operations, the practice is technically allowed. House Bill 2965 would prevent the establishment of any such operations.
The Oregon Aquaculture Association (OAA), which represents aquaculture interests in the state, have come out in opposition to the bill.
“I believe this bill is unnecessary, in that it addresses a problem that doesn’t currently exist, and that it will harm future growth and innovation in this state,” OAA President Randy Bentz told Oregon Public Broadcasting.
