Supreme Court rules in favor of steelhead farming in Washington waters

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Fish farming in Washington State waters got a big boost from a state Supreme Court ruling that upholds Cooke Aquaculture’s plan to raise native steelhead trout.

The ruling allows the company to go ahead with a plan to farm the native fish in net pens that previously held Atlantic salmon.

Industry publication Seafood Source reports the project is a joint venture with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

The court’s unanimous decision follows a NOAA study that found farming sterile, all-female steelhead would have little negative impact on endangered salmon, orcas or other northwest species.

Washington lawmakers banned the farming of non-native fish in state waters in 2018.

The ban came amid an uproar over the failure of a Cooke Aquaculture net pen near Cypress Island in 2017 that released hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound.