Agency plans to deny permit for Percival Cove fish pens

JOHN DODGE, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Wednesday, February 27, 2002

OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology announced plans Tuesday to deny the state Department of Fish and Wildlife a permit to continue raising salmon in Percival Cove.

Phosphorus in the fish food and fish feces from the net pen operation contribute to water quality problems in Capitol Lake and lower Budd Inlet, Ecology regulators said.

Fish and Wildlife officials intend to appeal the Ecology ruling, agency spokesman Craig Bartlett said.

The 200,000 yearling chinook salmon raised at Percival Cove and released each April into Puget Sound are a major contributor to sport fishing in South Sound, Bartlett said. Percival Cove is an arm of Capitol Lake.

No plan, no permit

Because Fish and Wildlife has no plan to treat wastewater or collect waste from the net pens, Ecology can't issue its fellow state agency a pollution permit, according to the Ecology review.

Fisheries officials are still trying to persuade Ecology to allow continued use of Percival Cove until a new home can be found for the fish.

It could be years before a new hatchery is sited and constructed in the Deschutes River watershed.

Fish and Wildlife has offered to:

- Switch to a fish food low in phosphorus for the next batch of fish.

- Measure phosphorus levels entering the cove from Percival Creek and exiting the cove into Capitol Lake.

The fisheries agency estimates that 80 pounds of phosphorus enter the lake from the net pens each year, which is roughly 0.02 percent of the phosphorus entering the lake, Bartlett said.

Ecology can't approve any phosphorus loading in the lake from a pollution source that can be controlled because the lake already violates water quality standards for phosphorus, agency officials have said.

Algae blooms

Too much phosphorus in the water increases the growth of algae, which in turn robs the water of oxygen.

The fisheries department has used Percival Cove to rear salmon since the 1980s.

Ecology spokeswoman Sandy Howard said the decision to deny the permit this year was prompted when Fish and Wildlife's 10-year lease with the state Department of General Administration to use Percival Cove expired in November.

Ecology also recently denied Miller Brewing Co. permission to dispose of 1.25 million gallons of treated brewery wastewater into the Deschutes River and Capitol Lake in large part because of phosphorus pollution.

John Dodge covers the environment and energy for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5444 and by e-mail at jdodge@olympia.gannett.com.

To comment

The public has 30 days to comment on the state Department of Ecology plan to deny a pollution permit for the salmon net pens in Percival Cove.

Send comments to: Industrial permit coordinator, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47775, Olympia, WA 98504-7775, or e-mailed to lcon461@ ecy.wa.gov.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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