The Strait

"The Strait", 9 x 9 In, Oil on Museum Board

We are blessed here in the Pacific Northwest with the sky, the mountains and the inland waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. I'm thinking a great deal these days about the tragedies of the recent horrific escape of the Atlantic salmon, many diseased from being penned together in close quarters, from the industrial net pen aquaculture in Puget Sound (banned in California and Alaska) (see http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article174002181.html) and the equally horrific expansion of geoduck aquaculture on the beautiful tidelands of Puget Sound, using 43,560 PVC pipes (7 miles/16 tons) per acre. (See http://protectzanglecove.org).

Our Department of Ecology is ringing its hands like a 5-year old because it is caught between some inkling of the right thing to do and the apparent fear of the aquaculture industry. The Department buys the industry's interpretation of our Shoreline Management Act without blinking an eye or apparently even reading the Act. I may be wrong about this--regarding the 5-year oldness, because I'm guessing many 5-year olds have more brains and guts than the adults in charge of environmental decisions regarding Puget Sound in our state. The pretense of "protecting and restoring Puget Sound" and at the same time allowing these industrial operations is completely hypocritical and without conscience.