Industrial waste. Raw sewage. Atlantic salmon. One of
those wasn’t considered an environmental threat until
recently.
Environmentalists from Washington
charge that escapees from large floating salmon farms in Puget
Sound should be regulated just like factory and sewage-plant
discharges. They say Atlantic salmon raised in hatcheries compete
with wild stocks, spread diseases through accumulated wastes and
dilute the gene pool. Now, activists have won the backing of the
Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board: The agency recently
declared escaped Atlantic salmon a “living pollutant.”
“The Atlantic salmon could pose either a genetic
or a competitive danger,” said hearing board judge Suzanne
Skinner.
But aquaculture proponents say wastes
from the floating pens are quickly diluted in Puget Sound. They
also contend that competition isn’t an issue because hatchery
salmon can’t catch food in the wild.
“The
potential for disease is also very minimal,” says Bob Newman, water
quality inspector for the Washington Department of Ecology. He
points out that Atlantic salmon eggs must be inspected and declared
“disease-free” before they are accepted for
farming.
Both sides will present their cases at a
pollution control board meeting in December. If the state board
rules that hatchery salmon harm wild species, the aquaculture
companies would have to apply for permits and might also have to
move their pens onshore.
*Jamie
Murray
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Something fishy about this pollution.
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