species protection

Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has issued a Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance for Cooke Aquaculture’s proposal (SEPA No. 19056) to farm biologically-engineered steelhead (aka Triploid Rainbow Trout) in the net pens Cooke Aquaculture used to farm Atlantic salmon. Open water net pens are “Confined Animal Feeding Operations” that generate disease and pollution. There could also be ... read more

Have you ever been in such a noisy or crowded room that you find yourself yelling to be heard and sometimes giving up on getting food? Imagine what the Southern Resident orcas (SROs) face as they forage for scarce Chinook salmon while being accompanied by boats. Please join us in urging your state legislators to ... read more

Here are five important things you can do today to support our Salish Sea as we close out 2018… Make an Impact to Protect What You Love: 1. Give Southern Residents their fair share of salmon. Ask the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission to allocate 410,000 Chinook salmon for the Southern Residents annually. ... read more

Post by Jess Newley, Marine Program Assistant Last week I got to hang out with the forage fish guru himself, Dan Pentilla. Since starting with Friends as the marine program assistant a month ago, I have been busy out on the beaches around San Juan and Lopez islands, collecting sand samples to help us document ... read more

Washington State requires refineries to have a state-approved oil spill response plan that ensures their ability to respond to major oil spills. Ecology is asking for public comments on the contingency plan for the Anacortes refinery that used to be called Tesoro, was then re-branded as Andeavor, and has now been bought by Marathon Oil. Your ... read more

Governor Inslee’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery and Task Force has issued the updated draft recommendations for actions to recover Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW). Show your support for SRKW protection and recovery actions by taking the survey! Click here for the online public comment portal. Comments must be submitted no later than midnight, Monday October 29, via the Task Force ... read more

The news of J35’s deceased calf has hit us all hard. She carried her deceased daughter for 17 days and hundreds of miles – it was truly heartbreaking to see this mother orca mourning the death of her newborn calf. It is also a stark reminder of the trouble the Southern Resident Killer Whales are in.It ... read more

Friends has joined with the Wild Fish Conservancy to bring you a public discussion about Atlantic salmon net pens and PRV (Piscine Reovirus) in Puget Sound. Details: ATLANTIC SALMON NET PENS and their residual implications for Chinook Salmon and Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Wednesday, August 8, 7:00 pm, The Commons at Friday Harbor Laboratories on San Juan ... read more

On April 4, seven local and regional environmental organizations appealed Skagit County’s approval of a project that would ship hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic chemicals through the Salish Sea every year, much of it destined for Asia. The groups maintain that the approval for the Tesoro (recently renamed Andeavor) Anacortes Refinery petrochemical expansion ... read more

All of us at Friends of the San Juans are very appreciative of our members and partners as we reflect on 2017 – thank you for being part of our community who cares deeply for orca, salmon, clean water free of Atlantic salmon netpens and oilspill free oceans. We wanted to give you an update ... read more