Washington State’s Landmark Net Pen Aquaculture Ban Protected in Victory for Clean Water and Aquatic Ecosystems

01 April 2026, Olympia: A Washington State court yesterday issued an order upholding the State’s historic ban on commercial finfish net pen aquaculture. The state court granted a motion from aquaculture industry petitioners to dismiss their lawsuit contesting the ban, marking the end of their efforts to overturn one of the strongest protections for marine waters in the United States.

Following a devastating 2017 net pen aquaculture collapse in Puget Sound that released a quarter-million farmed non-native and viral-infected Atlantic salmon, Washington State banned commercial fish farming in state marine waters, the result of a years-long public movement and campaign led by Wild Fish Conservancy alongside the leadership of Tribal Nations. In January 2025, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources issued its final rule implementing the state law, which was promptly challenged by the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance, a pro-industrial aquaculture trade association that includes Cooke Aquaculture, the company responsible for the 2017 collapse. Wild Fish Conservancy and Center for Food Safety (CFS) intervened to defend the state rule. The Intervenors were represented by counsel from Kampmeier & Knutsen PLLC and CFS.

“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,” said Kingsly A. McConnell, Staff Attorney for Center for Food Safety, an Intervenor in the case.

“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,” said Emma Helverson, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “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.”

Background

Industrial net pen aquaculture has well-established adverse environmental and socioeconomic impacts, including untreated daily pollution from drugs, chemicals, pesticides, fungicides and pharmaceuticals; nutrient pollution from uneaten fish food and fish waste; the spread and amplification of parasites, viruses, and disease from farmed fish to wild fish; broader ecological effects on marine wildlife; and harm to traditional and indigenous fishing cultures and communities through privatizing ocean resources. Chronic fish spills, both small-scale leakage and massive escape events, caused by equipment failure, human error, or weather, are among the worst causes of harm. Escaped fish harm wild fish by competing for food and habitat, spreading viruses and disease, and inbreeding, thus reducing genetic diversity and resilience. Worldwide, over 25 million farmed fish were reported to have escaped between 1996 and 2012. 

Although some U.S. state waters allow aquaculture, attempts to establish an industrial aquaculture in U.S. federal waters (from 3–200 miles offshore) have been repeatedly struck down by the courts because they lack legal authority and fail to assess the environmental impacts. Center for Food Safety has successfully fought against these programmatic efforts to entrench ocean aquaculture in the United States. Two countries, Denmark and Argentina, have banned finfish aquaculture outright due to its adverse impacts.

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