I am incredibly pleased and excited to inform you that HB 1153, a legislative proposal seeking to prohibit octopus farming in Washington State, has achieved a significant milestone by successfully passing the House Floor. This accomplishment is underscored by a robust bipartisan endorsement, with a vote count of 70 yeas, 27 nays, and 1 excused.
The commendable progress owes much to the persistent advocacy efforts of several NGOs, such as Aquatic Life Institute, Animal Rights Initiative, Pasado’s Safe Haven and more. Aquatic Life Institute, in collaboration with the Aquatic Animal Alliance, has actively supported this cause by submitting multiple letters to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee last year, as well as the House Rules Committee this year. As a result, the bill is poised to advance to the Senate, where we will continue our efforts to secure its success.
I am thrilled to share these positive developments in our ongoing campaign and hope that this serves as an inspiration for other jurisdictions to take a stand against octopus farming.
For the latest updates on HB1153, we encourage you to stay informed through our website: https://ali.fish/octopus-farming-ban
Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] for any questions.
Sincerely,
Giulia Malerbi
Great!
Be interesting to hear about the underlying process for policy change, things specific to WA or your work or team. Like, are things basically intuitive, was it really just writing in and speaking to legislators, or was there anything surprising about the policy work? This could be novel writing or just a blog that the team finds representative.