Editor,

I love the peace of fishing. Oh, I know fishing along places like Saratoga Passage is not what it was when I was younger fishing here, but it’s still pretty good.

I like crabbing and clamming, too. We can thank Island County Commissioner Rick Hannold for the survival of all that. If it weren’t for Hannold, multi-national corporations would have huge open net fish farms out there in our fishing grounds right now!

The state tried to bully Island County into accepting open net fish farms on our waters.

Island County Commis-sioner Rick Hannold fought back. He demanded public hearings. He asked us if we wanted those open net fish farms. He got 400 responses by email and by letter.

Every single commenter said no to the fish farms.

Under Hannold’s leadership, and with a lot of local support, little Island County won the fight. We are the only county in our state with a local ban on those fish farms. Our waters are protected right now and for all time.

Our state lawmakers finally stepped in last year to ban the fish farms after an open net pen farm on Cypress Island broke open, spilling thousands of young Atlantic salmon and other pollutants into our waters. But the state ban does not go into effect until 2025.

Hannold is running for re-election as our Third District Island County commissioner.

Please join me in voting to re-elect Rick Hannold and thanking him for protecting our precious and delicate environment.

Andy Valrosa

Oak Harbor