1. If approved, the Vashon Kelp Forest enterprise will install a 10-acre floating grid (the equivalent of 7.5 football fields) about 680 feet from the extreme low-tide shoreline and 1,200 feet from the high-tide shoreline directly in front of the entrance to Fern Cove.

2. The grid will feature more than six miles of rope, as many as 288 floats and up to 64 polyform buoys; eight of the buoys are four-foot-tall, white navigational buoys equipped with white LED lights that will flash every six seconds and are visible for up to 2.6 miles.

The area where the porposed kelp farm will be located has very little light polution at this time.
Nighttime at Fern Cove today
Visual rendering of the buoys at night.
Credit: Frame Visualization Studio
(Note: Renderings illustrate attempts to better understand what the kelp farm could look like and are not meant to be perfectly accurate. For example, nighttime renderings may not accurately reflect brightness of buoy lights.)

Nighttime rendering with all 8 lighted buoys
Credit: Frame Visualization Studio
(Note: Renderings illustrate attempts to better understand what the kelp farm could look like and are not meant to be perfectly accurate. For example, nighttime renderings may not accurately reflect brightness of buoy lights.)

3. ATTN Boaters: Per our understanding of US Coast Guard requirements, the 10-acre plot will be a “Danger” zone; meaning, this 10-acres is hazardous to navigation of all kinds. People and vessels proceed at their own risk.

4. The project needs at least two permits (one from US Army Corps of Engineers, one from King County) and one lease (from Washington’s Dept. of Natural Resources).

5. King County leapfrogged the Fern Cove kelp farm permit request ahead of other permit applicants and fast-tracked its approval, foregoing public hearings, an Environmental Impact Statement, and any monitoring or assessment of potential impacts, positive or negative, on endangered orcas, migrating shorebirds and waterfowl, boaters, paddle boarders, visitors, and the Cove’s 75-plus homeowners.

6. The Fern Cove Preservation Alliance, a community nonprofit, appealed the County’s decision; the appeal comes before the Shorelines Hearings Board starting Dec. 11, 2023.

Image showing the magnitude of the proposed commerical kelp farm call Vashon Kelp Forest from a home near Shinglemill Creek.
Rendered view of part of the proposed kelp farm from residence near Shinglemill Creek
(Credit: Frame Visualization Studio)

(Note: Renderings illustrate attempts to better understand what the kelp farm could look like and are not meant to be perfectly accurate.)

7. In response to the wave of public comments and concerns, the Army Corps upgraded to a more rigorous review process and Environmental Assessment of the project. Unfortunately, the Army Corps eventually issued a permit.

8. A decision by the Dept. of Natural Resources on whether to lease 10 acres of our public aquatic lands to a private business owner is pending; the requested lease is for 12 years and can be renewed or transferred to another owner.

9. As one of the first commercial aquaculture ventures in Puget Sound, this project will set legal and regulatory precedents for all the ones to follow.

10. This is particularly important because there are more proposals in the pipeline as private aquaculture businesses seek to occupy more of our public aquatic lands.