State officials terminated Pacific Sea Farms’ aquatic lease on Monday due to the company’s inability to retrieve portions of its large kelp-growing array and 3,000 feet of line that sank in open waters between Vashon and Tacoma five months ago.

In a letter dated Aug. 25, Thomas Gorman, manager of the state Department of Natural Resources’ Aquatic Resources Division, said retrieval of the sunken equipment was necessary for Pacific Sea Farms to come back into compliance with its lease and resume farming. The state initially gave the farm until May 5 to find the gear, then granted the owners two extensions.

On Aug. 7, Mike Spranger, co-owner of the kelp farm, told the state he could not locate the gear or retrieve it from the seafloor. Spranger offered an “alternative remedy,” saying he wou

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