Submitted by Friends of the San Juans

Friends of the San Juans has joined with the Wild Fish Conservancy to bring a public discussion about Atlantic salmon net pens and PRV (Piscine Reovirus) in Puget Sound. The event takes place at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 8, at The Commons at Friday Harbor Laboratories on San Juan Island, 620 University Road, Friday Harbor.

This past March, Washington state successfully passed a law phasing out open-water Atlantic salmon aquaculture from Puget Sound. While this law represents an unprecedented environmental success, a new campaign is being launched to educate the public about a debilitating and potentially lethal salmonid virus remaining in Puget Sound Atlantic salmon net pens that cannot be ignored until 2022.

On Wednesday, Aug. 8, join Kurt Beardslee of Wild Fish Conservancy for a public discussion on PRV in Puget Sound. Beardslee will explain what recent science reveals about the virus and how exposure to PRV-infected farmed fish places native salmonids at risk. He’ll review the results of recent PRV-testing in Puget Sound farmed Atlantic salmon and what these results suggest about the potential scale of infection in the remaining net pens. Beardslee will also discuss Our Sound, Our Salmon’s efforts to stand in solidarity with British Columbia First Nations as they petition the Canadian government to remove PRV-infected fish farms from their ancestral waters. Finally, learn all about Our Sound, Our Salmon’s new campaign to ensure PRV-infected farmed Atlantic salmon are removed from Puget Sound and how you can support these efforts. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A period.