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 …
