State agency oks permit for fish farm off Hope Island

Steve Edwards is known for his soft-spoken, consensus-building approach.

But the Swinomish Tribal Senate chairman has taken a more strident stance in response to recent authorization by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for Cooke Aquaculture to stock 365,000 triploid steelhead at its net pen facility near Hope Island within traditional tribal fishing areas.

Edwards termed the WDFW action “reckless” in a statement issued last Friday.

“WDFW has completely disregarded the significant interference with Swinomish’s treaty fishing rights caused by Cooke’s net pen throughout this process...