By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – Monday’s news that the Washington state Department of Natural Resources will not be renewing Cooke Aquaculture’s leases to raise steelhead in net pens at two Puget Sound locations raised a question. Does that decision necessarily mean that the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposal to build a similar facility in Port Angeles Harbor is now off the table?

Joe Smillie from the DNR gave us the simple answer Tuesday morning.

“They would need to get all their permits from the Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife, and all that stuff first. You know, the lease is kind of an end spot but, yeah, the the cancellation of those leases does not affect this proposal.”

As he said, there are a lot of agencies, federal and state, that the Tribe has to navigate before the DNR will seriously consider granting a lease. It’s already been nearly a 3 year process.

Add to that the fact that in 2018, Cooke Aquaculture filed a lawsuit against the DNR, asking the court to reverse the state’s termination of its lease in Port Angeles Harbor after the Cypress Island Atlantic salmon spill that accidently released over 263,000 salmon into the Puget Sound and surrounding rivers. We reported in March that that lawsuit was still making its way through the courts and, until it’s resolved, there will likely be no lease issued for Port Angeles Harbor.

We reached out to Tribe officials for comment but had not heard back by airtime.