MACQUARIE HARBOUR: ALBANESE SUBSIDISES MULTINATIONAL POLLUTERS INSTEAD OF ACTING TO PREVENT EXTINCTION & SUPPORT COMMUNITIES
Media Alert & Release - NOFF
12 November 2024
In a flagrant act of pork barreling, Prime Minister Albanese is subsidising the polluting multinational salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour instead of acting to prevent the extinction of the threatened Maugean skate and helping Tasmania’s West Coast communities transition to sustainable jobs.
“The Prime Minister’s announcement of a $21 million handout to the salmon industry is in flagrant disregard for the science that shows the Maugean skate’s plight is directly linked to the industry’s polluting practices,” says Lisa Litjens, VP of NOFF.
“This is money that should be put into helping the West Coast community transition to sustainable jobs, to supporting the people of the region rather than into the pockets of cashed-up multinationals.
FEDS’ $28M SKATE SURVIVAL PLAN
The Advocate - Matt Maloney
12 November 2024
FEDS’ $28M SKATE SURVIVAL PLAN PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese will announce that the federal government will invest more than $28 million towards improving water quality and environmental conditions at Macquarie Harbour.
Mr Albanese is expected to outline the funding commitment on the North West Coast today, which includes $21 million to improve and scale-up oxygenation in Macquarie Harbour.
The program will also focus on sediment remediation, and research the effects of historical mining.
An additional $5 million will expand the current Maugean skate breeding program’s work on hatching eggs and raising juvenile skates for release.
There will be $2.5 million for skate population and environmental monitoring, compliance and community engagement.
WOOLIES REJECTS MOVE TO BAN TASMANIAN SALMON
The Mercury - Aisling Brennan
1 November 2024
Woolworths shareholders have voted against immediate action to stop sourcing farmed salmon from waters where it’s estimated only up to 120 Maugean skate remain in the wild.
A small group of shareholders took their resolution calling to amend the company’s constitution on farmed seafood reporting and farmed salmon sourcing to the Woolworths Group annual general meeting, held in Sydney on Thursday.
The group of about 120 shareholders were involved in Environment Tasmania, Neighbours of Fish Farms (NOFF), Eko, Living Oceans and SIX Invest, with about one quarter of the group living in Tasmania.
Their main concern was the plight of the Maugean skate, which only lives in Macquarie Harbour.
One of the resolutions proposed by the concerned investors was to get the major supermarket to end its procurement of farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour by April 2025.
Woolworths Group chairman Scott Perkins told the AGM the company was waiting for the results of government studies before making a further decision about sourcing farmed salmon from the region.
“The unsustainability of supply from Macquarie Harbour is a matter we’re taking very seriously,” Mr Perkins said.
“It is however a complex issue and there is some conflicting evidence on some important matters.
“We are supportive of federal reviews … and the assessment of the extinction of Maugean skate.
“We are not close minded to all or any scenarios that may emerge from those reviews.”
WOOLWORTHS TO KEEP STOCKING TAS SALMON AFTER VOTE
The Advocate - Matt Maloney
1 November 2024
Protesters have been targeting supermarkets that sell salmon sourced from Macquarie Harbour over a number of months.
ALMOST 95 per cent of Woolworths shareholders have voted against a motion for the supermarket giant to stop stocking farmed salmon sourced from Macquarie Harbour by next April.
The motion was put forward for a vote with the argument that salmon farming in the waterway was pushing the ancient Maugean skate to extinction.
A motion which requested that the company provide a report on the impacts of farmed fish on endangered species also failed, but achieved 30 per cent of shareholder votes.
ADDRESS BY JESS COUGHLAN, NOFF CAMPAIGNER TO WOOLWORTHS SHAREHOLDERS AT SYDNEY AGM
31 October 2024
My name is Jess Coughlan. I live in Tasmania & I’m a neighbour of the salmon farms.
This motion addresses Woolworths ’commitment to sustainability, one of the pillars of its business practices and consumer expectations.
This makes the company’s decision on where it sources its Own Brand salmon a crucial one.
So let me briefly outline how Woolworths supply chain may be contributing towards the extinction of a 60-million-year-old animal, the Maugean skate, from its only habitat in Macquarie Harbour, on the remote West Coast of Tasmania.
The clear consensus of scientists - including the Commonwealth’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee - is that there are “catastrophic” consequences unless “urgent” action is taken to remove industrial net pens from the harbour - feedlots that supply some of Woolworths ’Own Brand salmon.
Those words - Catastrophic & Urgent - are the words of cautious scientists not given to exaggerated claims.
It’s a warning the company’s directors and us as shareholders must heed.
ACTIVISTS FAIL IN BID TO STOP WOOLWORTHS SOURCING FARMED SALMON FROM TASMANIA’S MACQUARIE HARBOUR
ABC News - Jano Gibson
31 October 2024
In short:
The Maugean skate, a species of ray, only exists in Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania's west coast, which is also home to a large salmon farming industry.
Scientists estimate only 40 to 120 adult individual skates remain in the wild, and say salmon farming is contributing to the degradation of its habitat.
What's next?
Shareholders at Woolworths' annual general meeting in Sydney were asked on Thursday to vote on a resolution calling on the company to no longer source farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour.
MASS FISH DEATHS, NATIVE MARINE LIFE THREATENED – IT’S TIME TO EXPOSE THE DIRTY SECRETS OF SALMON FARMING
The Mercury - Peter George
31 October 2024
Divers and contractors were in overdrive last spring and summer clearing out the rotting carcasses of some quarter of a million animals that died in their Macquarie Harbour salmon pens.
More than 10 per cent of the industry’s stock there was wiped out there during the major harvesting season.
Rumours of the carnage leaked but it took months working through right-to-information (RTIs) to get proof.
Industry insiders say the bloodbath was worse in the southeast and east where salmon struggled to survive spiking water temperatures and collapsing oxygen levels, but the gory details remain hidden. Tasmanians have a right to know what’s happening in public waterways yet the causes, numbers and location of mortalities are concealed behind industry opacity and regulatory laxity.
The industry defends the literal decimation of salmon stocks in Macquarie Harbour as normal “farming” losses, yet even the notoriously high mortality rate in poultry sheds – reportedly around 4 per cent – pales in comparison. It’s the equivalent of 10 dead cows rotting in a paddock of 100.
These alarming figures reflect a global trend with research revealing 865 million salmon died in feedlots over a decade worldwide.
In 2023, Norway lost 17 per cent of its stock.
Scotland lost 17 million fish.
STORES FACE ANTI-SALMON PROTEST BLAST
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
31 October 2024
Environmental groups took their fight to protect Macquarie Harbour’s Maugean skate to the supermarket checkout on Wednesday, launching simultaneous protests at Woolworths stores across the country against the retailer’s ongoing sale of farmed Tasmanian salmon.
The coordinated action by organisations including the Bob Brown Foundation and Neighbours of Fish Farming came a day before Woolworths shareholders were expected to vote on an annual general meeting resolution to cease procuring salmon from Macquarie Harbour.
Speaking outside the protest at Woolworths’ Sandy Bay store, Bob Brown Foundation campaign manager Jenny Weber said the sale of fish produced in Macquarie Harbour salmon leases was driving the endangered skate closer to extinction.
MAC HARBOUR WAITING GAME A LITTLE FISHY
The Advocate -Alex Fair
31 October 2024
FRUSTRATION is the understandable response to the news there will be a further delay to there finally being a decision when it comes to fish farming in Macquarie Harbour.
It was confirmed earlier this week that the threatened species assessment for the endangered Maugean skate – found only in Macquarie Harbour – would not be delivered this week as previously indicated.
Instead, as it was stated on Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s website: “The assessment timeframe … has been extended from 30 October 2024 to 30 October 2025 to enable enough time to consider public comments and to finalise the assessment.”
This is after, as Labor Senator Anne Urquhart said, Ms Plibersek had granted “a request from the scientific experts for more time to make sure they take everyone’s feedback into account, including the latest scientific research.” A 12-month extension such as this means that this will be a decision that will be made after the upcoming federal election, which is due to be held by May. Keeping in mind the divisive nature of this issue, it is only right to ask whether there would be as long of a delay if the country were not soon to be going to the polls.
30 October 2024
CAMPAIGN PRESSURE RISES TO EVICT FARMS
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
Environmental campaigners have used the announcement of a 12-month delay to the Maugean skate’s conservation status assessment to step up calls to evict salmon farmers from Macquarie Harbour.
SALMON SUPPORTERS LASH ‘COWARDICE’
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
Key supporters of the state’s salmon industry have accused federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek of putting her own political survival ahead of the Tasmanian regional communities, following her department’s decision to extend a scientific assessment of Macquarie Harbour’s maugean skate population until late 2025
A YEAR ON AND NO CLOSER TO DECISION ON HARBOUR
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
For the past 12 months, federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has been considering a request from environment groups for a review of whether the Tasmanian salmon industry has the necessary Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act approvals to operate in Macquarie Harbour, home to the endangered Maugean skate.
SALMON, SKATE AWAITING FATE
The Mercury Editorial
30 October 2024
The ongoing salmon farming debate in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour has left both pro-salmon farming supporters and environmental activists frustrated as they await clarity on the industry’s future.
The federal government’s recent decision to postpone its ruling by a year on whether salmon farming can continue in this ecologically sensitive area has only heightened tensions.
Supporters of the industry argue that salmon farming is vital to Tasmania’s economy, providing jobs in regional areas where employment opportunities can be scarce.
They claim that sustainable practices have improved, and with responsible management the environmental impact can be minimised. These advocates are now calling for prompt regulatory certainty to protect investments and livelihoods tied to the sector.
On the other hand, anti-salmon farming protesters express concern for the endangered Maugean skate, a rare species now only found in Macquarie Harbour.
FISH FARM DEBATERS ANGRY AT SKATE DELAY
The Advocate - Benjamin Seeder
30 October 2024
Environmentalists claim the Maugean skate is being put at risk by fish farms in Macquarie Harbour.
A DECISION to delay a threatened species assessment of the plight of Macquarie Harbour’s Maugean skate by a year has angered both sides of the fish farming debate.
An update on the website of the Department of Climate Change and Energy, the Environment and Water on Monday confirmed that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee would delay its assessment of the endangered skate by 12 months.
The decision prolongs the uncertainty of West Coast salmon farm employees, who have lived with possibility of their industry being shut down since last year.
The committee had been due to hand its advice to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, who is conducting a review into fish farming in Macquarie Harbour, within days.
FEDERAL DECISION ON MACQUARIE HARBOUR’S ENDANGERED MAUGEAN SKATE PUT OFF UNTIL NEXT FEDERAL ELECTION
ABC News - Manika Champ
29 October 2024
In short:
A decision on whether to increase the threatened species listing of the Maugean skate from endangered to critically endangered won't be made until after next year's federal election.
The skate lives only in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour, which is being shared with salmon farming operations blamed for degrading the harbour's water quality.
What's next:
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) now has until October 30, 2025 to make its eligibility recommendations. A separate decision still needs to be made on whether to extend the salmon farm leases.
SOUTHERN BEACHES COMMUNITY SAYS NO TO SALMON FARMS
Tasmanian Times
28 October 2024
It was standing room only on Saturday night, 26th October, at Carlton in the Sorell LGA. Shock, palpable concern and heightened community unrest that Fredrick Henry Bay and the beautiful southern beaches could be soon awash with fish farm debris and pollutants with planned expansion of salmon industry nets into Storm Bay. Over 140+ attended the Community Film and Information Night to hear first-hand expert and fish farm neighbours’ experience of the devastating impacts once these farms enter the bays.
Showing the film Paradise Lost, those present were horrified to see the destructive results of fish excrement and fish food waste built up on the sea floor and washing up onto coastlines.
The message loud and clear from every speaker, “It is now, you must do everything to stop fish farm expansion now, before these farms get established in these bays, because it will come, the plastic waste, the polluting production and waste, it will come.”
ABOUT ONE IN 10 FARMED SALMON IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR DIED OVER A SEVEN MONTH PERIOD, DOCUMENTS SHOW
ABC News - Jano Gibson & Adam Holmes
24 October 2024
Environmentalists have raised concerns after new data showed about 10 per cent of salmon farmed in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour died during the process.
About 9,500 tonnes of salmon was expected to be produced in the harbour on the state's west coast this year, according to Salmon Tasmania's website.
Environmental group Neighbours of Fish Farming [NOFF] submitted a Right to Information request to find out the mortality rate.
In response, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has released data showing 1,149 tonnes of salmon died between September last year and March this year.
NOFF CALLS FOR DECISION NOW ON MACQUARIE HARBOUR
Media Release - NOFF
24 October 2024
NOFF calls on Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, to urgently announce the drawdown of Atlantic salmon feedlots in Macquarie Harbour with the weight of scientific opinion now fully behind the move.
An open letter to the Minister signed by 33 leading Australian scientists underscores the need for urgent action
SHOCKING MORTALITY RATES IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR SALMON PENS
Media Release - NOFF
23 October 2024
More than a million kilos of salmon died during last summer in Macquarie Harbour feedlots, according to figures released by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) (attached).
Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) calls on the companies and the government to disclose the causes of the mortalities, whether through overstocking and disease or other reasons.
According to NRE figures, 1,149,795 kilos of salmon (1,149 tonnes) died in Macquarie Harbour between September last year and March this year.
The figures were released by the department following an RTI inquiry by NOFF - they were published on the website then removed soon afterwards.
HEAT ON CHILE SALMON MOVE
The Mercury - David Killick
5 October 2024
Opening Australian markets to the massive Chilean salmon industry placed the local aquaculture industry in further peril, Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam says.
The federal minister responsible has countered by pointing out negotiations began while the Liberals were in power.
Chile’s aquaculture industry is 10-times the size of Australia’s and supplies 50 per cent of the fish consumed in the American market, but it has a patchy record when it comes to the environment, the overuse of antibiotics and workers’ rights. The federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has granted a market access request from Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service after six years of negotiations.
NEW SCALE OF FISH FOOD FIGHT
The Mercury
4 October 2024
As Australia’s restaurant industry faces a sustained economic crisis, anti-salmon protests targeting hospitality businesses, grocers and supermarkets could further aggravate an already dire situation. Protests against farmed salmon, which some environmental groups associate with marine degradation and poor ethical practices, are now extending their activism to restaurants serving these products.
PETITION DEMANDS ACTION ON CONTAMINATION OF HOBART’S DRINKING WATER
Tasmanian Times - by Tasmanian Times
30 September 2024
Water watchdog, Safe Water Hobart, has launched a petition demanding government action on the contamination of greater Hobart’s drinking water.
The petition seeks to ensure that precautions are taken to guarantee safe drinking water for greater Hobart, and address negligent management of its drinking water catchments.
The launch coincides with the release of a short documentary, ‘Contaminated – How Safe Is Hobart’s Drinking Water?’, which features renowned scientist Lisa Gershwin and physician Frank Nicklason.
“In the last four years there has been a doubling of the number of people with motor neurone disease in southern Tasmania who are registered with MND Tasmania,” said Dr Frank Nicklason.
PM SNUB DRAWS IRE OF MAYOR
The Mercury
26 September 2024
West Coast Mayor Shane Pitt says he is “deeply disappointed” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hasn’t visited the region after telling him “more than three months ago” that he would.
It comes amid speculation over the future of salmon farming at Macquarie Harbour as Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek weighs up whether to end aquaculture in the area in order to protect the endangered Maugean skate.
In a statement timed around Mr Albanese’s visit to Launceston on Wednesday, Mr Pitt said he was unhappy that the Prime Minister had not yet honoured his word and come to the West Coast.
“More than three months ago the Prime Minister told me to my face that he would visit the West Coast in the coming months, but we’ve heard nothing since,” Mr Pitt said.
SKATE ON A BETTER PATH……FOR NOW
The Mercury - David Killick
25 September 2024
An increase in the number of juvenile Maugean skates is a hopeful sign for the survival of the endangered species, scientists say.
Research by the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) has shown an increased presence of young Maugean skates for the first time in a decade.
Nine days of fishing in Macquarie Harbour have caught 38 skates so far in 2024.
IMAS Maugean skate captive breeding program leader Professor Jayson Semmens said data collected since 2021 suggested the population might be stabilising.
ABC Hobart Tasmania Mornings with Leon Compton
24 September 2024
Listen to Professor Jayson Semmens, IMAS Researcher and Maugean Skate Captive Breeding Program Leader
PRESSURE FOR ACTION ON FINFISH
Hatcheries in spotlight
The Mercury - Elise Kaine
24 September 2024
Retired charter skipper Geoff Baker has been visiting Tasmania from Queensland on flyfishing trips for decades.
Thirty years ago, he and his father (who has since passed away) would camp at the South Esk River on their fishing trips.
He still camps there now, but after the introduction of the Huon Salmon hatchery on the river, he began to see problems.
“I noticed a depletion of fish stocks over the years,” Mr Baker said. He started testing the water using an EPA approved kit and said the results showed the PH levels along the river were “very acidic” downstream from a finfish hatchery.
Above the hatchery there were “plenty” of signs of life, he said, but below the hatchery it was “biologically dead” with few fish and no insect life.
“Nothing is growing in the river below the hatchery,” Mr Baker said.
SUPERMARKET SALMON FIGHT
Shareholders pressure for supply change
The Mercury - David Killick
6 September 2024
Anti-aquaculture activists will ask Coles and Woolworths to stop stocking fish farmed in Macquarie Harbour.
The bid has been condemned as the actions of “faceless mainland activists” by the salmon industry.
Activist share trading platform SIX has lodged a shareholder resolution on behalf of 121 Woolworths shareholders.
It calls on the company to stop sourcing farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour “and give the Maugean skate its only chance at survival”.
The resolution has the support of ethical advice groups Ethinvest, Ethical Investment Advisers and Tasethical, as well as Environment Tasmania, Neighbours of Fishing Farming, Eko and Living Oceans Society.
SIX CEO Adam Verwey said salmon production in Macquarie Harbour threatens the endangered Maugean skate.
SALMON FARM BAN ONLY HOPE TO SAVE SKATE
As species faces extinction it is vital we make the right decision
The Mercury Talking Point -Andrew Wright
5 September 2024
Recent media reports state that the number of mature individual Maugean skate in Macquarie Harbour is estimated to be between 40 and 120 males and females combined and decreasing (The Guardian, August 15). If this is confirmed, it is beyond crisis point for the skate.
NO REASON TO DELAY REPORT
The Mercury - State of Environment
31 August 2024
We Tasmanians pride ourselves on the stunning beauty and inherent value of our natural environment. It serves as the cornerstone of our clean, green brand - the that brings thousands of visitors to our state every year.
SCIENTIST REBUFFS MAYORS’ CLAIMS THAT THE RESEARCH ON ENDANGERED MAUGEAN SKATE IS WRONG
ABC Hobart - Presented by Leon Compton
22 August 2024
This week representatives of the salmon industry and community leaders reliant on the jobs that flow from it, have been in Canberra lobbying politicians around an upcoming decision on the future of aquaculture and the endangered Maugean skate in Macquarie Harbour on the west coast of Tasmania.
West Coast and Devonport mayors told Leon Compton on Tasmania Mornings they believe the science is wrong about the risk to the declining Maugean skate population from salmon farming.
Shark scientist at the Australian Marine Conservation Society Dr Leonardo Guida responds to their claims, telling Leon that the science on the impacts on the skate by fish farming is as "solid as it can possibly get".
YOUR SALMON FILLETS COULD BE DRIVING A RARE, ANCIENT SPECIES TO EXTINCTION
The Sydney Morning Herald - Mike Foley
17 August 2024
The salmon fillets you’re buying at the supermarket could be driving one of Australia’s rarest and most ancient animals to extinction.
There are between 40 and 120 remaining adult Maugean skate – a fish endemic only to western Tasmania – on the planet.
Scientists on the federal government’s threatened species committee last week said the best way to save the endangered fish is to eliminate or at least dramatically cut back on salmon farming in its habitat.
Farms are located around the Tasmanian coastline, and Macquarie Harbour is not the main source of salmon supply. But that’s where the most controversial leases are because it is the only place on earth where the skate lives.
SALMON INDUSTRY IN KEY TASMANIAN LOCATION SHOULD BE CUT TO SAVE MAUGEAN SKATE, SCIENTISTS ADVISE GOVERNMENT
Exclusive: Fish farms in Macquarie Harbour are the greatest threat to survival of ancient ray-like species, scientists advising Australian government find
The Guardian - Adam Morton
15 August 2024
Scientists advising the Australian government on how to save the threatened Maugean skate from extinction have recommended the salmon industry be either scaled back dramatically or removed from Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour after finding fish farms are the greatest threat to its survival.
The advice is included in a conservation report by the government’s threatened species scientific committee that says the skate – an ancient ray-like species found only in the harbour in the state’s west – should be considered critically endangered.
NEW ARRIVAL: BABY MAUGEAN SKATE HATCHES FROM CAPTIVE-LAID EGG IN A WORLD FIRST FOR THE ENDANGERED SPECIES
IMAS
13 August 2024
For the first time ever, a baby Maugean skate has hatched from an egg laid in captivity – and scientists are looking forward to more arrivals soon.
It’s an exciting time for marine ecologists at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), who have been working around the clock since an adult female skate was brought into captivity in December last year, and laid her first egg shortly after.
MAUGEAN SKATE BORN IN CAPTIVITY BRINGS HOPE FOR ANCIENT SPECIES
Federal Government - The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water
13 August 2024
In a world first, a baby Maugean Skate has successfully hatched from a captive-laid egg.
The captive breeding program, funded by the Albanese Labor Government, is run by scientists at the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).
The first hatchling, a female, arrived on 10 July after about 7 months developing in the IMAS facility at Taroona.
The baby skate is healthy and growing fast and will likely become an important member of the captive breeding program.
The captive breeding program is expected to see many more baby skate hatch in coming weeks and months.
FIRST BABY MAUGEAN SKATE HATCHES IN CAPTIVITY
Tasmanian Government - Nick Duigan, Minister for Parks and Environment
13 August 2024
In a world first for the captive Maugean Skate breeding program, a baby Maugean skate has been hatched from eggs laid in captivity right here in Tasmania.
Minister for Parks and Environment, Nick Duigan, said the exciting development occurred at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies facility at Taroona.
“The juvenile skate hatched from an egg laid by a female skate collected from Macquarie Harbour in December last year,” Minister Duigan said.
MAUGEAN SKATES THRIVE IN CAPTIVITY BUT WILD HABITAT NEEDS URGENT ATTENTION
Media Release - Australian Marine Conservation Society
13 August 2024
Maugean skates doing well in captivity – more than 20 hatchlings are growing into adults with at least 80 eggs yet to hatch.
Removal of intensive salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour urgently needed – 2024 dissolved oxygen targets set in Federal Government’s Conservation Advice is still years off
Tasmania’s World Heritage Area values under threat, Macquarie Harbour and Maugean skate integral to brand ‘Tasmania’ and reputation for natural beauty.
STORM BAY BIODIVERSITY HAS DECLINED BETWEEN 2015 AND 2020, ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH
ABC Radio Hobart - Presented by Leon Compton
29 July 2024
Researchers from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies have found underwater biodiversity has declined in waters south of Hobart over a five-year period.
The study, which used high-tech underwater robots, examined three reef systems in Storm Bay, and compared more than 60,000 images taken between 2015 and 2020.
Ashlee Bastiaansen, marine ecologist, and associate professor Neville Barrett explain what the study means for Tasmania going forward.
REPORT 10 YEARS LATE
Conservationists’ urgent call
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
6 July 2024
More than 30 conservation groups have signed a joint statement imploring the Rockliff government to urgently release the long-delayed State of the Environment report without which they say the Liberals are making major policy decisions that aren’t informed by “the best available science”.
WE NEED COMPROMISE TO MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR ALL, NOT JUST THE RICH AND POWERFUL
The Mercury - Ian Johnston
18 June 2024
Why do we seem incapable of compromise? Why can we not achieve positive, pragmatics solutions to the problems our beautiful state seems unable to resolve? Where are the solutions that are acceptable to the majority of citizens?
MEET THE UBER-WEALTHY FAMILIES WHO CONTROL MUCH OF THE FOOD SYSTEM IN THE US AND AUSTRALIA
ABC News - Fiona Pepper and Catherine Zengerer
7 June 2024
Austin Frerick's interest in mega-rich farmers began in 2018, while he was perched on a stool in a hipster dive bar in Iowa during a competitive local political campaign.
The author got chatting to someone in the bar who told him the biggest campaign contributors were a couple of Iowa hog farmers named Jeff and Deb Hansen.
Frerick was struck by this and what these farmers symbolised.
"The most politically powerful person right now in the state is a hog farmer," Frerick tells ABC RN's Late Night Live.
And he wondered how one farmer could come to amass and sell more than 5 million pigs each year.
DARK MOFO WINTER FEAST VISITOR ASKED A CONFRONTING QUESTION: “WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SALMON DINNER?”
NEW ART INSTALLATION IN HOBART’S WATERFRONT
The Tasmanian Times
7 June 2024
A major art installation will be unveiled this evening in Mawson Place, Hobart, featuring a large-scale image with religious overtones … and a clear message about the destructive impact of unsustainable salmon farming.
Mawson Place, Hobart, 5.30pm, Friday, June 7
The artwork was inspired by revelations that salmon producer, Tassal, was responsible for the deaths of 89 native greater cormorants at the end of last year – 53 shot and killed, the remaining birds dying in nets covering the fish pens.
NEW CAMPAIGN TO EXPOSE SALMON REALITY
New website and major city poster campaign to show he truth about Tasmanian salmon
The Tasmanian Times
6 June 2024
Today, Bob Brown Foundation launched a new website, SalmonTasmania.com to expose the nasty reality of Tasmanian salmon.
Posters have been put up across Sydney and Melbourne, suggesting the public learn the truth behind toxic farmed salmon from Tasmania.
SALMON V SKATE: ENVIRONMENTALISTS TAKE FISH FIGHT TO TANYA PLIBERSEK’S DOOR
Campaigners urge Australians not to buy Tasmanian farmed salmon to avoid ‘extinction event’ for Maugean skate
The Guardian - Sharlotte Thou
28 May 2024
Campaigners working to save the endangered Maugean skate – a ray-like fish species found only on Tasmania’s west coast – have brought the battle to the door of the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, in inner-city Sydney.
The Tasmanian community group Neighbours of Fish Farming (Noff) has installed a billboard opposite Plibersek’s office in Redfern that describes the skate as “Labor’s first extinction” and calls on the minister to “remove toxic Tassie salmon from Macquarie Harbour”. The billboard will remain in place for at least the next two weeks.
Plibersek is formally reconsidering salmon farm licences in the harbour after a request by three environment groups.
The skate has dwindled in numbers in recent years due to low oxygen levels that scientists say have been caused in significant part by salmon farms.
TASMANIAN EPA REJECTS REQUEST FOR REAL TIME DISCLOSURE OF ANTIBIOTICS AT FISH FARMS
Integrity Commission review scathing of government agency information failings
The Tasmanian Times - Bob Burton
27 May 2024
Tasmania’s environment regulator has rejected a request that it notify the public in real time when salmon companies use antibiotic-coated feed at fish farms in the state’s waterways.
Tasmanian Inquirer asked the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to disclose details of antibiotic use at fish farms so recreational fishers and the public would be aware of where and when medicated feed was occurring.
UN DIVES INTO HERITAGE-HARBOUR SALMON ROW
The Australian - Matthew Denholm
27 May 2024
The UN has asked the Albanese government to answer claims that salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour is damaging the values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Environment groups in early April wrote to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation claiming that reduced water oxygen levels linked to fish farming were pushing an endangered skate to extinction.
The Weekend Australian has confirmed that UNESCO has now taken up the issue with the Australian government, seeking a response to the concerns.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is reviewing federal approval for aquaculture in the harbour, on Tasmania's west coast after a request from green groups and advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee that "organic loads" from salmon pens have a "catastrophic" impact on the maugean skate.
About a third of Macquarie Harbour is in the world Heritage area, and the deep marine species including the skate are listed as contributing to the area’s key values.
LABOUR’S FIRST EXTINCTION
The Monthly - Richard Flanagan
May 2024
State and federal governments have protected Tasmania’s foreign-owned salmon industry, and the imminent loss of the Maugean skate exposes the price of such state capture.
When this sad tale is told in the future it will be as a chronicle of an extinction foretold. But it is also a parable of what we do when we do nothing, of what happens when we let corporate greed and political cowardice define our world as a lie.
And we with it.
TIME TO RETURN ICONIC HARBOUR TO BETTER STATE
Present Aquaculture Operations must not be allowed to continue, write Stewart Frusher and Andrew Wright
The Mercury - Stewart Frusher and Andrew Wright
25 April 2024
Macquarie Harbour is a unique feature of the Australian landscape. It is Australia’s second largest embayment after Port Phillip Bay and is about six times larger than Sydney Harbour. It forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area officially gazetted by UNESCO’s World Heritage Organisation. It is a complex and fragile system as demonstrated by the recent rapid decline in the Maugean skate population and the poor recruitment of juveniles to sustain the population.
The demise of the skate is a key indicator of the health of the harbour. Although the harbour has undergone considerable impacts from anthropogenic activity in the past, especially mining but also hydro discharge and gillnetting, until relatively recently the skate has managed to maintain a viable population. Validated by the best available science, the large expansion of aquaculture in the harbour from 2012, has fuelled the rapid decline in the skate. This unique ecosystem is being driven beyond its tipping point and the harbour’s ecology is under significant threat.
TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT AND TASSAL CRITISED FOR PRE-ELECTION SECRECY OVER ANTIBIOTIC USE AT BRUNY ISLAND SALMON FARM
Global expert backs vaccines as alternative to antibiotics
Tasmanian Inquirer - Bob Burton
22 April 2024
Tasmania’s largest salmon company used a controversial antibiotic to control a potentially deadly fish disease just weeks before Premier Jeremy Rockliff called the state election, but the company and government made no public announcement at the time.
In response to a request by Tasmanian Inquirer, the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) confirmed that Tassal used 180 kilograms of oxytetracycline from January 9 to control a disease outbreak at the Soldiers Point salmon lease near Bruny Island. The salmon farm is located across the narrow D’Entrecasteaux Channel from Woodbridge, the destination for the popular Peppermint Bay tourist boat cruise from Hobart.
Gerard Castles, president of the Killora Community Association on Bruny Island, said it was alarming that Tassal’s use of an antibiotic was kept secret until after the election. “This was a deliberate act to avoid raising issues that would have been exposed to public scrutiny,” he said
MAKE-UP OF TASMANIAN PARLIAMENT FINALLY SETTLED AS ‘ANTI-POLITICIAN’ INDEPENDANT TAKES LAST SEAT
Premier Jeremy Rockliff says he will advise governor Barbara Baker that he be recommissioned to form a new government
The Guardian - Australian Associated Press
6 April 2024
Independent candidate and salmon farming opponent Craig Garland has secured the final spot in Tasmania’s parliament, leaving the Liberals with 14 seats, Labor 10, the Greens five, Jacqui Lambie Network three and three independents.
Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said with the 35 members of the state’s assembly elected, 13 of them new faces, he would advise governor Barbara Baker that he be recommissioned to form a new government.
The incumbent Liberals will have to cobble together a minority arrangement with crossbench support after falling short of the 18 seats required for majority at the 23 March poll.
The party has been in power since 2014.
PROLONGED TAS ELECTION COUNT COMES DOWN TO A SINGLE SEAT
The New Daily - Ethan James
5 April 2024
A fisherman with a distaste for major political parties and salmon farming is in a two-way battle with the Liberals for the final seat in Tasmania’s parliament.
The incumbent Liberals will have to cobble together a minority government with crossbench support after falling short of the 18 seats required for majority at the March 23 poll.
CALL TO PUT SKATES ON OVER FISH FARMS PROBE
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
5 April 2024
Conservation groups and Salmon Tasmania have called for a speedy conclusion to a federal probe into the future of Macquarie Harbour’s fish farms, as a coalition of environmental bodies seek UNESCO help to save the endangered maugean skate.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is undertaking a review of the industry under the terms of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act following requests from groups including the Australia Institute and the Bob Brown Foundation, which remain concerned about the impact salmon farming is having on the ancient species.
A two-month public consultation period closed in early February, with the minister yet to make a decision.
On Friday, Australia Institute Tasmania director Eloise Carr said with the clock ticking on the skate’s survival, the coalition had approached the United Nations’ World Heritage Committee “to hold the Australian government to account” on the issue.
“This is an alert to the international community that urgent conservation action is critical to save the skate from extinction,” Ms Carr said.
“New scientific evidence was presented to the Australian environment minister in June 2023 and showed the need to revoke the decision that allowed large-scale fish farming in Macquarie Harbour.
“We still don’t have an outcome.”
TASMANIAN VOTE UNDERMINES POWER OF MULTINATIONAL SALMON INDUSTRY
NOFF welcomes election outcome
Media Release - NOFF
24 March 2024
One clear winner from the Tasmanian elections will be the state’s marine life and waterways.
The final makeup of the Parliament will ensure the multinational salmon industry will be held to account for the damage it does to the state’s natural heritage.
The vote for the Greens and progressive independents makes it clear Tasmanians want an end to the closed-door deals with polluting industries.
“Perhaps the biggest winner from this election will be the 60-million-year-old Maugean skate whose very existence is threatened by industrial salmon production in Macquarie Harbour,” says Peter George, president of NOFF.
THE JUICE MEDIA TOLD TO CENSOR SATIRICAL VIDEO WITH IMAGE OF TASMANIAN PREMIER OR FACE HEAVY PENALTIES
Maker of ‘honest government’ ad parodies says state’s antiquated electoral laws could be ‘weaponised to silence critics’
The Guardian - Tory Shepherd
20 March 2024
“It was a real ‘what the fuck’ moment,” Giordano Nanni says about his company, The Juice Media, being told to censor an image of Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff or face heavy penalties.
The Juice Media is well known for its satirical “honest government” series, which takes potshots at all sides of politics in videos that resemble government-funded propaganda.
SEA SHEPHERD AND BOB BROWN FOUNDATION SAY KRILL IS BEING FISHED FOR SALMON FEED
Anti-salmon farming protesters hope aquaculture will be a big issue at the state election this month. Meanwhile the Sea Shepherd has taken aim at krill fishers in Antarctic waters.
The Mercury - Judy Augustine
12 March 2024
Protesters on paddleboards and boats formed a flotilla in Hobart’s waterfront, hoping to convince Tasmanians not to vote for parties who support off shore salmon farming in state waters.
The action coincided with the arrival of the Sea Shepherd vessel, Allankay, which docked in Hobart, after an Antarctic voyage.
Sea Shepherd Managing Director Jeff Hansen said the food source of whales was at risk.
“Last year we went down because we had a tip off of a megapod of 1000 fin whales and big super trawlers going through twice the size of Olympic swimming pools … to plough right through the middle of them and take the krill, their food,” Mr Hansen told the crowd of protesters.
TASMANIAN RECREATIONAL FISHING GROUP WANTS PUBLIC NOTIFICATION OF ANTIBIOTIC USE AT FISH FARMS
Labor and Liberal leaders defend current approach, while Greens and independent MP back change
Tasmanian Inquirer - Bob Burton
12 March 2024
A Tasmanian recreational fishing group has called for prompt public notification of antibiotic use in marine fish farms, a proposal not supported by the Labor or Liberal parties but backed by the Greens and a sitting independent MP.
It follows Tasmanian Inquirer reporting that wild fish caught at a salmon farm operated by the state’s largest salmon company, Tassal contained antibiotic residue almost five times the allowed level.
“Public disclosure should be in place to alert the community to the location of antibiotic exposures so recreational fishers can avoid the area if they are concerned,” said John Stanfield, the secretary of the Tasmanian Amateur Sea Fisherman’s Association and an administrator of the popular RecFishTas Facebook group, which has 7800 members.
PICTURE LAMENTING INDUSTRIAL SALMON IMPACT OF WATERWAYS WINS ART AWARD
Media Release - NOFF
4 March 2024
“Salmon Feast” by Jess Coughlan wins $2,000 award
An artwork “Salmon Feast” that draws attention to the damaging impact of industrial salmon farms in Tasmanian waters has won the $2000 first prize in the big annual art awards in the Huon Valley.
The three independent judges, Gillian Grove, Lynne Uptin (OAM) and photographer, Matthew Newton, said the work represented an era of art that celebrated plenty but used the style to alter a viewer’s perception.
They said the photographical piece incorporated all the elements of a good art, in that it was beautiful, drew the viewer in and was political “in that it challenges the corporate narrative.”
ANTIBIOTICS FOUND IN WILD FISH NEAR TASMANIAN SALMON FARMS AT NEARLY FIVE TIMES ALLOWED LIMIT, REPORT SHOWS
Testing shows blue mackerel caught near salmon pens with antibiotic residues of 960µg/kg, making fish ‘not fit for human consumption’
The Guardian - Bob Burton
26 February 2024
Tasmania’s largest salmon company, Tassal, has revealed wild fish at one of its salmon farms contained antibiotic residues at almost five times the allowed level.
In another case, there were low-level antibiotic traces in wild fish caught more than seven kilometres from another Tassal salmon farm.
Two monitoring reports published by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in January show Tassal used 368.5 kilograms of a controversial antibiotic to control disease outbreaks at the two salmon farms last year. There was no public notification when the antibiotics were used or when the monitoring reports were released.
ONLY FEDERAL INTERVENTION CAN STOP THE SALMON INDUSTRY DUMPS OF ANTIBIOTICS IN TASMANIAN WATERS
Regulatory body “captured” by the salmon industry
Media Release - TAMP
26 February 2024
Action to halt the outrageous misuse of antibiotics in the Atlantic salmon industry in Tasmania must be implemented urgently.
Tasmania’s peak marine protection body, TAMP, says there’s now clear evidence that the multinational salmon companies have captured the Federal regulator of antibiotic use in animals.
“Federal fisheries minister, Senator Murray Watt, must step in immediately and crack down on - or eliminate entirely - the use of antibiotics by industrial salmon multinationals in Tasmanian public waterways,” says Peter George, TAMP spokesperson.
“The latest evidence of misuse of antibiotics in the salmon industry clearly points to the regulator doing the industry’s bidding.”
REPORT REVEALS HIGH LEVELS OF ANTIBIOTIC IN WILD FISH AT TASMANIAN SALMON FARM
Low-level antibiotic traces detected up to seven kilometres from Tassal farms
Tasmanian Enquirer
26 February 2024
Anthony Albanese’s visit to Tassal’s salmon plant in the south of Tasmania on January 17 was a calculated provocation.
The prime minister appeared keen to repeat the controversy stirred up last August when he wore a Rio Tinto hi-vis shirt with “Anthony” stitched above his right pocket, during a visit to the mining giant’s facilities in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
This time, Albanese appeared before the media in a vest embroidered with his nickname “Albo” and a hat printed with the controversial aquaculture giant’s logo. The office of prime minister is now open to corporate sponsorship. He is happy to be used as a Tassal prop.
WE CANNOT SIMPLY JUST SWALLOW THE SALMON INDUSTRY’S SPIN – THERE IS A BETTER WAY
Being the best of the worst is nothing to crow about when it comes to fish farming, argues former EPA Board Member Louise Cherrie
The Mercury - Louise Cherrie
21 February 2024
In 2018 I was a member of the Marine Farming Review Panel advising the minister on salmon farming. During consideration of massive expansion proposed for Storm Bay I did my own due diligence. I looked for proof of readiness to prevent or respond to plausible scenarios like fish mass mortality and benthic dead zones. I wanted to see monitoring for early warning and operational plans for quick response. Fellow member and renowned fish health scientist Professor Barbara Nowak sought proof of adequate biosecurity management to prevent disease outbreak. Plans either didn’t exist, were inadequate, or were simply not provided by industry. I was told by senior salmon industry staff, and I quote: “You just need to trust us”. Glaring omissions and facts were brushed aside. I verified large scale degradation in other areas and found the science to be incomplete. Underway yes, but incomplete, and therefore no foundation for massive expansion. I saw the disgraceful state of Macquarie Harbour in video footage that would shock any decent person.
ADVICE IGNORED, NOW ECOSYSTEM FACES COLLAPSE
Early modelling of the salmon industry’s impact on Macquarie Harbour was fraught, writes Alex Schapp
The Mercury - Alex Schapp
14 February 2024
I was first involved with Tasmania’s salmon farming industry in the 1980s when, as a research officer for the Department of Sea Fisheries, I undertook environmental monitoring and assessment dives under salmon farms, then later as director of Marine Resources (which included oversight of management of marine farming), and most recently as director of the EPA until 2016, when I retired.
The salmon industry’s recent announcement of modelling of salmon farming’s contribution to oxygen depletion in Macquarie Harbour brings to mind the modelling that the industry commissioned to support the major expansion of farming in the harbour.
At that time I was the director of the EPA and therefore a member of the Marine Farm Planning Review Panel which was to advise the minister of the merits of any proposed new Marine Farm Development Plan for Macquarie Harbour.
CRITICS DISPEL SALMON STATS
The Mercury - Simon McGuire
11 February 2024
Environmental groups have slammed Salmon Tasmania for claiming aquaculture has had little impact on oxygen levels in Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast.
Salmon Tasmania put forward its submission to the federal government as Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek decides whether to reverse a 2012 decision to allow aquaculture in the harbour.
The review was prompted after concerns salmon farming was behind the declining numbers of Maugean skate, a fish species endemic to the harbour and listed as endangered.
DEFENDERS OF TASMANIA’S ENVIRONMENTAL HERITAGE WON’T BE SILENCED BY INDUSTRIAL SALMON
Media Release - TAMP
10 February 2024
In response media statements by Luke Martin, lobbyist for Salmon Tasmania, the following statement is issued on behalf of TAMP:
Voices for the end of Atlantic salmon farming in Tasmania’s remote Macquarie Harbour include marine scientists with many years of experience, environmental organisations whose members are deeply concerned, intelligent Tasmanians who understand the threat to the harbour and the Maugean skate and a basic human right to protect the wilderness and our environment.
These voices will not be silenced by lobby group, Salmon Tasmania’s latest public statements that seek to demean and diminish the deep expertise that has led to widespread, educated calls for the removal of industrial salmon feedlots from the waterway.
ATLANTIC SALMON INDUSTRY TAKES LEAF OUT OF CLIMATE DENIALIST PLAYBOOK
Media Release - NOFF
10 February 2024
The overwhelming evidence from scientists who have studied the health of Macquarie Harbour for many years clearly demonstrates the drastic impact of the Atlantic salmon industry on the waterway’s health and the declining population of Maugean skate.
Now the multinationals who own the Atlantic salmon business in Tasmania are taking a leaf out of the climate denialist playbook.
The waterway’s future must be determined by independent science, not through cherry-picking conclusions by hired consultants producing outlier reports that conflict with highly skilled, experienced and dedicated scientists who have studied the waterway and the skate for many years.
NOFF TEAMS UP WITH SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT EXCHANGE (SIX) TO TARGET COLES AND WOOLIES OVER MAUGEAN SKATE FUTURE
Media Release - NOFF
7 February 2024
NOFF is pleased to be part of the Sustainable Investment Exchange (SIX) national campaign to drive change to the salmon supply chain of major supermarkets to protect and ensure the future of the threatened Maugean skate in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.
Reaching out to shareholders helps further NOFF’s mainland campaign alerting Australian consumers to the impact of industrial salmon on the island’s waterways and marine life.
Please see the following Media Release from SIX:
WILL MAUGEAN SKATE PLAN BE ROAD TO RECOVERY OR RUIN?
Media Release - Australian Marine Conservation Society and Humane Society International Australia
2 February 2024
The Maugean skate national recovery team's “roadmap of agreed actions” will enable the public to hold all stakeholders to account for their responsibility to save the skate, the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International Australia (HSI Australia) said after the plan was released by the federal government today.
Oxygen levels have collapsed in the skate’s only home, Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, because of intensive salmon farming,[1] with the skate on the verge of extinction with fears fewer than 1000 remain.[2] Since December two adults have died in the captive breeding program, highlighting the urgency to restore the health and resilience of the harbour.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S DECISION OVER TASMANIA’S SALMON FARMING INDUSTRY IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR HANGS IN THE BALANCE AS PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS END
Shadow environment minister Jonathon Duniam has warned the price of salmon will go up under Tanya Plibersek's watch as public submissions on whether the federal government should reconsider salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour end on Friday.
Sky News.com.au
2 February 2024
Australians will pay more salmon at their local supermarket under the federal government's watch, says shadow environment minister Jonathon Duniam, as public submissions on the future of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour end on Friday.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek opened a public consultation in December after environmental groups - Australia Institute, Bob Brown Foundation and Australian Marine Conservation Society - demanded the government reconsider salmon farming on Tasmania's west coast over concerns the rare Maugean Skate fish would become extinct.
The consultation period began on December 4, with members of the public given the chance to have their say following months of uncertainty surrounding the state's 1.3 billion salmon industry.
THE UNSEEN COSTS OF TASMANIAN SALMON INDUSTRY GROWTH
Aquaculture & Fisheries, Issue 105
February 2024
Tasmania’s salmon industry, a booming enterprise expanding along the island state’s pristine coastline, has become the subject of heated debate and controversy. The industry, now a $1 billion operation, has sparked concerns about environmental degradation and ethical practices. These issues revolve around fish waste accumulation, the impact on local marine ecosystems, and ethical treatment of wildlife, including seals. Additionally, the industry’s rapid growth and foreign ownership have raised questions about transparency and accountability.
ALBANESE’S TASSAL SALMON FARM VISIT AN OPEN ENDORSEMENT OF CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL VANDALS
The Saturday Paper - Bob Brown
27 January 2024
Anthony Albanese’s visit to Tassal’s salmon plant in the south of Tasmania on January 17 was a calculated provocation.
The prime minister appeared keen to repeat the controversy stirred up last August when he wore a Rio Tinto hi-vis shirt with “Anthony” stitched above his right pocket, during a visit to the mining giant’s facilities in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
This time, Albanese appeared before the media in a vest embroidered with his nickname “Albo” and a hat printed with the controversial aquaculture giant’s logo. The office of prime minister is now open to corporate sponsorship. He is happy to be used as a Tassal prop.
PROTEST AGAINST HYPOCRISY - TAMP SUPPORTS FRIENDS OF THE BAYS
Media Release - TAMP
26 January 2024
The Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP) supports plans to hold a peaceful protest at tomorrow’s Sandy Bay Regatta Ocean swim sponsored by Atlantic salmon producer, Tassal.
“It’s utter industry hypocrisy to sponsor a waterborne event by a tax-avoiding foreign company like Tassal which is destroying the waterways and marine life of our state,” says Peter George, spokesperson for TAMP.
TAMP applauds the new group, Friends of the Bays and its Tasmanian surfing icons for stepping up to highlight the hypocrisy. Members of the statewide TAMP alliance will be there to support them.
“Tassal, Huon and Petuna are equally guilty of polluting Tasmanian waterways, are equally guilty in trying to preserve profits while allowing the Maugean skate to get closer to extinction in Macquarie Harbour and equally guilty of using harmful explosives and projectiles against protected fur seals.
WOMBAT COMES TO SAVE DAY FOR MAUGEAN SKATE
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
25 January 2024
An ambitious project to boost oxygen levels to help save Macquarie Harbour’s threatened Maugean skate has moved a step closer, with Salmon Tasmanian announcing that a barge known as the Wombat has been successfully moored in position.
But environmental groups have cast doubt on the effectiveness of efforts to artificially increase dissolved gas levels in the West Coast waterway, dismissing the proposed trial as “experimentation”.
SALMON INDUSTRY IS USING ‘GLOBAL TACTICS’
The Advocate - Peter George
24 January 2024
SINCE multinationals took over the Atlantic salmon industry in Tasmania, they have adopted global tactics to attack their critics.
From the playbook of tobacco, oil and coal industries, this means attacking critics to undermine their credibility while denying everything that does not fit the industry story.
They create lobby groups with benign titles and a public “face” to run interference, and cover-up inconvenient facts that damage their interests and profits.
THE WOMBAT ARRIVES: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FOR MAGUAN SKATE
Media Release - NOFF
24 January 2024
Any effort to improve the health of Macquarie Harbour from the ravages of industrial salmon feedlots is welcome but the oxygenation project is far too little and far too late.
Efforts to restore the waterway should have started before summer as the science indicated.
Federal conservation advice says it should have begun with reducing salmon feedlots as the fastest, most efficient way to attempt to halt the dramatic decline of the Maugean skate and start improving oxygen levels.
The launch of the Wombat barge marks the start of a highly subsidised programme paid for by Australian taxpayers to protect tax avoiding multinationals who send their profits overseas.
Letters to the Editor - The Advocate 23 January 2024
SKATE LOSS THREATENS DIVERSITY, HEALTH
We have one place to call home, planet earth.
The Maugean skate has one place to call home on earth, Macquarie Harbour.
Science demonstrates that Macquarie Harbour is polluted principally from sewage excreted raw and untreated from salmon caged like battery hens in the harbour.
The Maugean skate is on the brink of extinction. Unless decisive action is taken to remove salmon cages and their pollution from the harbour, the skate will be lost forever.
Diversity in nature ensures our health. More than 30 per cent of medicines come from nature.
Loss of the skate from nature threatens diversity and our health.
We’ve lost the Tasmanian Tiger. Australia already holds the unenviable title of being in the top four countries for extinctions.
Loss of the Maugean skate would be unthinkable and reprehensible. Our response must support workers exiting ocean based salmon farming.
Let’s be guardians of the skate and our health.
Dr Darren Briggs, Penguin
HARBOUR NO PLACE FOR FARMING
Macquarie Harbour was never the right place for salmon farming because it is an enclosed space without natural flushing.
Seaweed or oyster or mussel farming a big yes, because they like quiet waters and actually do the cleaning themselves while growing.
If these crops were grown instead of oceanic salmon it would be ok.
Another no brainer is why are Tassal etc. not taking to the high seas in ever moving cage ships as the Chinese are doing?
Salmon makes me sick just thinking about their suffering anyway.
And why are they fed such garbage as crushed up chicken feathers when other creatures like mealy worms or maggots much prefer that kind of food, and the salmon would much rather be eating the worms and maggots.
The loop also needs to be closed under water. There are some marine creatures that love eating fish poop.
They are tiny amphipods and copepods, which as it turns out are what salmon naturally like to eat.
Nature always has a way of cleaning up that our artificial animal raising methods need to work into the system to keep our world healthy.
No matter what the fish farmers do they will always need workers, so for goodness sake, do your farming properly in a way that makes things better, not worse.
Susanne Chandler, Burnie
RULING SEALS CRACKER DEAL
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
20 January 2024
Tassal’s application to use underwater explosives to ward off seals from its salmon leases has been rejected by the international aquaculture certification body, which said it was not convinced the company would be able to sufficiently minimise the impact on wildlife.
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), which sets the standards for responsible fish farming around the world, acknowledged Tassal’s rationale for the application was to ensure the safety of its workers.
But it ultimately ruled that the company’s request did not “provide credible evidence for the risk of harm caused to seals, or their populations, as a result of using seal crackers”.
The ASC began defining seal crackers as acoustic deterrent devices under the ASC Salmon Standard in September 2022, which meant they were no longer permitted for use by aquaculture companies under the code.
Despite this, Tassal continued to use seal crackers at its farms. According to its website, where the use of deterrents is routinely disclosed, 1006 crackers were used on Tassal leases between December 2022 and November 2023.
CERTIFIER REFUSES TASSAL’S USE OF CRUEL UNDERWATER EXPLOSIVES AGAINST SEALS
Media Release - 19 January 2024
Plans by industrial salmon company, Tassal, to continue using thousands of underwater explosive seal deterrents in Tasmanian waters have been dealt a blow by a leading international certifier.
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has refused to issue Tassal with exemptions from its global ban on the devices.
ASC’s refusal states Tassal’s request did not “provide credible evidence for the risk of harm caused to seals, or their populations, as a result of using seal crackers”.
ANTHONY ALBANESE FIGHTS TOBE HEARD OVER LOUD CHANTING FROM SALMON FARM PROTESTORS DURING PRESS CONFERENCE IN TASMANIA
Sky News - Laura Grassby & Lauren Evans
17 January 2024
Anthony Albanese was almost drowned out by environmental activists who attempted to disrupt a press conference held outside a fish processing plant in Tasmania on Wednesday.
The protesters could be heard chanting outside the Tassal facility located just south of Hobart in the town of Barretta.
“Save the Maugean skates,” they shouted as Mr Albanese began speaking about local salmon farming industry.
ENDANGERED MAUGEAN SKATE DIE IN CAPTIVE BREEDING PROGRAM AFTER BEING REMOVED FROM MACQUARIE HARBOUR
ABC Radio Hobart - Adam Holmes
16 January 2024
Creating an "insurance population" was seen as essential in preventing the extinction of a species of ray that only lives on Tasmania's west coast, but the project has immediately encountered setbacks.
Two of the four adult endangered Maugean skates taken into a captive breeding program have died within weeks.
Scientists at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) collected the four adults from Macquarie Harbour – the only place they are known to survive – on December 15, but half could not survive.
The program only had a predicted mortality rate of 12.5 per cent for captured adult skates.
FEDS FUND FIGLEAF FIX FOR DIRTY SALMON
Tasmanian Times
21 December 2023
Media release – Senator Anne Urquhart, Chief Government Whip in the Senate, 20 December 2023
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PARTNERS WITH SALMON INDUSTRY IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR OXYGENATION TRIAL
More than $7 million will be invested to stimulate oxygen levels in Macquarie Harbour to assist with the recovery of the endangered Maugean skate.
The Australian Government’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and Tasmanian salmon producers have joined forces to fund this significant investment in the new research.
As part of the Albanese Government’s commitment to recovery of the Maugean skate, this investment funds Salmon Tasmania to undertake the oxygenation trial ($4.9m), and the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) ($2.3m) to lead an independent scientific evaluation of the trial to determine how effective oxygen remediation in Macquarie Harbour is in assisting with Maugean skate population recovery.
EPA SELLS OUT TASMAN PENINSULA TO TASSAL
Tasmanian Times
17 December 2023
EPA Director, Wes Ford, has sold out residents of the Tasman Peninsula by renewing industrial Atlantic salmon operations for another two years in Long Bay, next to World Heritage site, Port Arthur.
Mr Ford has completely ignored well-documented science and community objections by the Tasman Peninsula Marine Protection (TPMP) and the Tasmanian Independent Science Council (TISC) citing the destructive impacts of Tassal feedlots in Long Bay well beyond the permitted limits.
“Under no circumstances could a truly independent EPA have permitted this damaging industry to continue polluting our precious and vulnerable waterway,” says Trish Baily of TPMP.
“Tasmanians should expect the EPA to be the guardian of our marine ecology while instead it bows to the demands of foreign-owned corporations whose only contribution to the state is industrial devastation.”
BOB BROWN FOUNDATION CLAIMS THOUSANDS OF SALMON HAVE DIED IN TASSAL PENS DUE TO MARINE HEATWAVE
ABC News Hobart - Lucy MacDonald
15 December 2023
Environmentalists believe thousands of farmed salmon have died in the waters off Tasmania's east coast due to a marine heatwave.
Video captured by the Bob Brown Foundation (BBF) on Wednesday shows a barge with crates of dead salmon onboard parked next to one of Tassal's fish farm pens at Okehampton Bay, near Triabunna.
COLES, WOOLWORTHS AND ALDI ‘RESPONSIBLY SOURCED’ SALMON LABELS MAY BE MISLEADING, WATCHDOG TOLD
Environmental groups allege some of the supermarkets’ salmon is from Tasmanian farms reportedly having ‘catastrophic’ impact on ancient Maugean skate
The Guardian - Jordan Beazley
5 December 2024
Major supermarkets may be misleading consumers that their salmon products are responsibly sourced as some is produced in Tasmanian farms that are “far from sustainable”, environmental groups say.
The Environmental Defenders Office, acting on behalf of four environmental groups, has made a complaint to the consumer watchdog, urging it to investigate whether “responsibly sourced” labelling on seafood products and promotional material used by Coles, Woolworths and Aldi have broken consumer law by misleading consumers.
WES FORD ON ABC HOBART RADIO - MORNINGS WITH LEON COMPTON
1 December 2023
LEON COMPTON: The Maugean skate is a fish species that's found pretty much only in Macquarie Harbour, and if you're a regular listener to Mornings, you'll know that it's on the verge of extinction. A number of state and federal agencies are busy at the moment asking what needs to be done to save the Maugean skate, but importantly, asking the question - can that be done without any impact on the powerful salmon farming industry? Which is increasingly important for local communities on the west coast. Wes Ford's director of the EPA. Wes Ford, good morning to you.
STRAHAN COMMUNITY LIVING IN FEAR AS ENVIRONMENT MINISTER TANYA PLIBERSEK REVIEWS TASMANIA’S SALMON FARMING INDUSTRY IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR
The potential shutdown of the nation's most prominent salmon farming industry could see a coastal town "with nothing left" as locals fear the impact would be "catastrophic".
Sky news - Lauren Evens
24 November 2023
A government review into salmon farming on Tasmania's west coast has sparked widespread fears through the close-knit town of Strahan.
Earlier this month, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek warned of a potential shutdown of the state's $1.3 billion salmon industry following requests from environmental groups over concerns the Maguean skate - a unique species of fish - would become extinct.
UPPING FIGHT ON SALMON
The Mercury - Duncan Abey
23 November 2023
A prominent anti-salmon farm group will target mainland shoppers this Christmas with a new social media campaign, alerting consumers to what it says are the Tasmanian industry’s false claims of sustainability.
But Salmon Tasmania has hit back, with chief executive Luke Martin saying the state’s growers adhered to strict environmental regulations, and that the Neighbours of Fish Farms’ “Uncage Our Seas” campaign lacked credibility.
UNCAGE OUR SEAS
NOFF launches mainland Australia Consumer campaign against “farmed” Atlantic salmonWith advertising blitz
NOFF Media Release - 22 November 2023
NOFF has launched a nationwide advertising campaign in the run up to Christmas, alerting mainland consumers to false marketing of Tasmanian-produced Atlantic salmon as “clean, green, sustainable and healthy”.
The advertising blitz had already been viewed more than 100,000 times on social media within days of being rolled out.
REPORT CLAIMS TASMANIA’S SALMON INDUSTRY PAID ZERO TAX AMID POTENTIAL PUSH FOR FARM CLOSURES
Seafood Source - Chris Chase
15 November 2023
Australia Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has warned she may reconsider salmon-farm licensing in Tasmania to protect a rare fish.
Eenvironmental groups have increasingly called for restrictions on salmon farming in Tasmania after a study by the University of Tasmania said aquaculture operations could be a factor in the decline of the endangered Maugean skate. The skate, which is endemic only to Macquarie Harbor, has seen its population drop by half in the last seven years, with some scientists warning the species could be one extreme weather event from extinction.
3 COMMUNITIES CALL FOR CANCELLATION OF SALMON LICENCES
TAMP MEDIA RELEASE
15 November 2023
Community groups impacted by industrial salmon production in Tasmania have called on the state government to revoke industry licences and leases in nearby waterways.
The call comes as Primary Industry minister, Jo Palmer, EPA director, Wes Ford, and the Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE), Jason Jacobi, consider whether to renew salmon production licences which fall due on November 30.
SHOCK CLAIMS SALMON GIANTS ARE DODGING TAX
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
11 November 2023
New analysis suggests that Tasmania’s three salmon giants paid a total of just $51m in corporate tax in nine years, despite recording a total income of $7bn over the same period.
The report by progressive think tank the Australia Institute, released on Saturday, also examines Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data to estimate that between 1100 and 1700 people work in the Tasmanian salmon industry – accounting for between 0.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent of total jobs in the state.
Salmon Tasmania has asserted that Tassal, Huon Aquaculture and Petuna support more than 5100 full-time equivalent jobs across the state.
SALMON INDUSTRY AND ITS POLITICAL ALLIES SHOULD FEEL THE SCALD OF SHAME FOR IGNORING SCIENTIFIC WARNINGS
The Mercury - Peter George
8 November 2023
“This industry will not concede one single fish or one single job.” chief executive of Salmon Tasmania Luke Martin wrote, in a recent opinion piece published in several Tasmanian newspapers. (Mercury, October 20)
In this piece, Mr Martin, succinctly laid bare the true intentions of three foreign-owned salmon companies towards the potential extinction of the Maugean skate and the fragile health of Macquarie Harbour.
The stance of Mr Martin’s employers to a 60-million-year-old relic of the dinosaur age bodes ill for the rest of the state’s waterways as the cashed-up multinationals drive expansion in Storm Bay and in the North West of the state.
WE’RE NOT A PLAY THING
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
8 November 2023
Premier Jeremy Rockliff has issued a stern warning to federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek after she suggested a “pause” on salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour was possible amid efforts to protect the endangered Maugean skate.
It comes after Ms Plibersek wrote to the Premier on Monday, telling him a review of environmental approvals for salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour could soon occur and that if such an action was taken, a “pause” on aquaculture in the area would be required.
WHITE SUPPORTIVE DESPITE CANBERRA’S WARNING SHOT
The Advocate - Simon McGuire
8 November 2023
THE state opposition leader says she has been in conversation with her federal Labor counterparts about aquaculture in Macquarie Harbour despite appearing to have differing views on the issue.
Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White, along with fellow MPs Shane Broad and Janie Finlay, was on the West Coast to visit representatives from the salmon industry and workers at the harbour.
PAUSE ON SALMON FARMING POSSIBLE
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
7 November 2023
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has indicated that salmon companies could be forced to pause farming operations in Macquarie Harbour as part of a broader effort to protect the endangered Maugean skate.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has indicated that salmon companies could be forced to pause farming operations in Macquarie Harbour as part of a broader effort to protect the endangered Maugean skate.
In a move that’s likely to embolden environmental groups and alarm the salmon industry, Ms Plibersek wrote to Premier Jeremy Rockliff on behalf of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday, in response to a letter the Premier had sent to Mr Albanese in September regarding salmon farming in the harbour and the plight of the skate.
TASMANIAN SALMON FARMS COULD FACE RESTRICTIONS TO SAVE ENDANGERED FISH
The Guardian - Adam Morton
7 November 2023
Tanya Plibersek has written to the Tasmanian government to flag she may reconsider the future of decade-old salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour due to concern about their impact on a critically endangered species.
It follows scientific warnings the salmon industry is having a “catastrophic” impact on the Maugean skate, an ancient fish thought to be found only in the vast harbour on the state’s west coast.
ABC Radio Hobart – Tasmania Mornings, 3 November 2023, 8:30am with: Dr Leonard Guida – on Skate Recovery team and with Australian Marine Conservation Society.
COMPTON: You might have heard in the news yesterday about more funding - $2.1 million being allocated to help secure the survival of the critically endangered Maugean skate in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast. For those new to Tasmania, this species is only found in Macquarie Harbour on the west coast, and it's feared that there's less than 1,000 of them left. Scientists are trying everything at the moment, drawing on knowledge from around the world, but it's been interesting to watch, well, a range of organisations - the State Government, the Opposition, the West Coast Council, the salmon industry particularly - all seem to have decided that for the Maugean skate to survive, that survival will really need to happen in breeding programs in tanks. Now, what remains to be seen is whether the Federal Environment Minister sees the situation the same way or will come out between now and Christmas and potentially demand dramatic changes to human involvement in the environment in Macquarie Harbour, which might see - and one of the options in front of her is to see salmon farming reduced in Macquarie Harbour or removed altogether, and for Hydro Tasmania potentially to dramatically change its water releases into the harbour in the interests of better oxygen levels down along the bottom. Dr Leonardo Guida is a shark scientist at the Australian Marine Conservation Society and joins me now, because it seems the focus really is on breeding Maugean skate if they're to survive. Dr Leonardo Guida, good morning to you.
MAYOR SAYS SORRY AFTER WAR OF WORDS
The Advocate - Simon McGuire
1 November 2023
A NORTH-WEST mayor has apologised for calling the president of an environmental group a liar and has withdrawn the comments.
The apology comes following a war of words around aquaculture in Macquarie Harbour amid conservation efforts to save the endangered Maugean skate.
The skate is endemic to Macquarie Harbour, and environmental groups have claimed salmon farming in the body of water has contributed to the species decline.
INDUSTRY HAS A CHANCE TO LAND AN INVESTMENT
Right around the world, plenty of smart money is now going towards land-based salmon farming
The Mercury - Greg Barnes
30 October 2023
Nova Scotia, an eastern Canadian province, and Tasmania have much in common. Stunning wilderness areas, waterways and lakes for starters. And both host the salmon industry.
Controversy over that industry is common to both jurisdictions because the days of farming in public waterways appears doomed.
While in Tasmania a growing movement of activists is pushing for land-based salmon farming and an end to it in coastal waterways and rivers, this is also the case in Nova Scotia, where one of Tasmania’s biggest players in the industry, Cooke, plies its trade. Only last week a proposal by Cooke to triple its existing operations in Liverpool Bay in Nova Scotia was the subject of bitter dispute, with groups vehemently opposed to the proposal lining up to convince the regulator.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS CLAIM TASMANIA SALMON INDUSTRY GREENWASHING ITS PRODUCTS
Seafood Source - Chris Chase
30 October 2023
Neighbors of Fish Farming (NOFF), an Australian organization working to end salmon farming in Tasmanian waters, has submitted claims to a Federal Senate inquiry into greenwashing that the Atlantic salmon industry in the country is making false sustainability claims.
The Australian Senate started an inquiry into greenwashing on 29 March, 2023, specifically aimed at looking into claims made by companies and the impacts of those claims on consumers. As part of that inquiry, NOFF submitted information it claims shows the Atlantic salmon industry should be investigated.
TIPPLE HELPS SUPPORT FIGHT FOR OCEAN HEALTH
The Mercury - Alex Treacy
27 October 2023
East Coast whisky distillery Waubs Harbour has teamed up with Great Southern Reef Foundation, Environment Tasmania, Surfrider Tasmania and Sea Forest to raise awareness of the fight to protect and preserve Tasmania’s oceans.
This weekend, the distillery will host the screening of two short films, followed by a Q&A with guests senator Peter Whish-Wilson, former Olympian Shane Gould, Scott Bennett from the Great Southern Reef Foundation, and marine scientist and conservationist Ally King.
The two short films – Reviving Giants, by the Great Southern Reef Foundation, and Southern Blast, by Surfrider Foundation Australia – tell the story of Tasmania’s incredible ocean environment and the fight to protect it.
SKATE PROJECT FUNDING REQUEST
The Mercury - Tia Ewen
27 October 2023
West Coast Council is urging the state and federal government to reinstate funding for the Mount Lyell Remediation Project to help save the Maugean skate.
Mayor Shane Pitt has written to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Premier Jeremy Rockliff requesting funding for the Mt Lyell project be reinstated, after funding stopped in 2010 to fund the fox eradication project.
“If the minister is serious about improving Macquarie Harbour to save the Maugean skate, she will immediately reinstate the funding and deliver this project,” he said.
AT RISK - THE HARBOUR IS HOME TO A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED FISH SPECIES
Salmon approval could be overturned
The Advocate - Matt Maloney
25 October 2023
A DECISION on whether or not salmon pens in Macquarie Harbour should be reduced is expected to be made by the federal Environment Department by Christmas.
At a senate estimates hearing and under questioning from Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, the department’s head of environmental approvals, Bruce Edwards, said three submissions had been received to review a 2012 decision to expand salmon farming in the harbour.
CONCERNS OVER FUTURE OF SALMON FARMING IN TASMANIA’S MACQUARIE HARBOUR
ABC Radio Hobart - Alexandra Humphries
24 October 2023
Tasmanians living on the west coast rely on a few key industries to survive, including salmon farming.
However, locals are worried its future might be at risk.
The Federal Government is considering revisiting the environmental approvals for salmon farming in the area, amid concerns an ancient fish species may become extinct.
PLIBERSEK ‘SERIOUSLY’ PONDERS SALMON WINDBACK, AS INDUSTRY WARNS OF ‘DEVASTATION’
The Australian - Matthew Denholm
20 October 2023
The Albanese government is “seriously” considering rethinking approval for salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, a move industry warns would “completely undermine confidence” in the $1.5b sector. Correspondence obtained by The Weekend Australian shows Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is taking “seriously” the request by conservationists for her to rethink a 2012 decision allowing expanded salmon farms in the harbour.
SPRAY AT ‘TRIVIALISATION’ OF END TO SALMON FARMING
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
15 October 2023
West Coast Council general manager David Midson has delivered a stern rebuke to conservationists calling for an end to salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour, accusing them of seeking to “trivialise” the potential impact on the local community.
STOUSH OVER SALMON JOBS
Green group slams ‘395 employed’ figure
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
13 October 2023
The peak body representing Tasmania’s salmon industry has released figures suggesting almost 400 jobs are tied to salmon farming operations in Macquarie Harbour as it seeks to counter calls from conservationists for an end to aquaculture in the area.
But environmental groups have fired back, saying the numbers are “discredited”.
SALMON INDUSTRY CLAIMS IN SECRET REPORT SOUND A LITTLE BIT FISHY
LATEST FIGURES CIRCULATED IN HYBRID VERSION IS UNVERIFIABLE PUFFERY, WRITES RICHARD FLANAGAN
The Hobart Mercury – Richard Flanagan
10 October 2023
Two years ago the salmon industry claimed in full page advertisements that 12,000 Tasmanians worked “either directly or indirectly in the salmon industry, making this one of Tasmania’s biggest employers”.
You can still find this untruth on the website of lobby group Salmon Tasmania as it puffs out nonsense for its overseas funders, the foreign owners of the Tasmanian salmon industry.
Bizarrely, the same website also boasts the industry today supports 5103 full-time jobs. What happened to the other 7000 jobs is anyone’s guess.
HILL STREET GROCER UNDER PRESSURE OVER MACQUARIE HARBOUR FISH FARM THREAT TO ENDANGERED MAUGEAN SKATE
Conservationists challenge the food retailer’s promotion and stocking of Petuna salmon and trout
Tasmanian Inquirer - Bob Burton
10 October 2023
A leading Tasmanian fine food retail business is facing calls to stop selling salmon and ocean trout produced in Macquarie Harbour after scientific advice warned fish farming is a leading factor driving the critically endangered Maugean skate to extinction.
Conservationists have urged Hill Street Grocers to end its relationship with Petuna, an aquaculture company that operates four of the 10 fish farming leases in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.
IS PETUNA PLANNING FAST-TRACK SALMON FEEDLOTS IN STORM BAY AS ITS OPERATIONS IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR ARE THREATENED?
MAUGEAN SKATE RECOVERY TEAM IN HOBART for 2ND MEETING
TAMP Media Release
8 October 2023
Tasmania’s peak marine protection body, TAMP, accuses the state government of planning secret deals with multinational industrial salmon producer, Petuna, to fast-track plans for more feedlots in Storm Bay before scientific research is complete.
SKATE TEAM MEMBER’S PLEA TO REJECT SALMON
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
8 October 2023
A member of the Maugean skate recovery team has asked Tasmania’s environmental watchdog to reject the renewal of salmon farm licences in Macquarie Harbour, which are due to expire in November.
There are fewer than 1000 Maugean skates left in the harbour on Tasmania’s West Coast, which is understood to be the last known habitat of the ancient species.
BREATH OF LIFE FOR HARBOUR
Oxygen injection plan aims to save skate
The Mercury - Tia Ewen
30 September 2023
The salmon industry says it will invest millions of dollars to manufacture increased oxygen levels in Macquarie Harbour, in an effort to save the endangered Maugean skate.
Salmon Tasmania said on Friday it had teamed with Australian Government’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) to place a barge on the harbour to manufacture an increased level of oxygen.
The $6m, two-year project will start this summer for a first trial as part of a “long term strategy”.
SKATE, SALMON NEED TO ‘COEXIST’
The Mercury - Tia Ewen & Genevieve Holding
16 September 2023
The salmon industry and government must invest to find a pathway for aquaculture and the endangered Maugean skate to “coexist”, Tasmania Premier Jeremy Rockliff says.
It comes as Dear Tanya, a series of ‘postcard’ videos, is the latest campaign calling for the federal government to protect Tasmania’s marine and bird life from the salmon industry.
Neighbours of Fish Farming and filmmakers LowCo have released the videos addressing federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek about the state’s salmon industry’s threat to Tasmanian marine life and waterways.
The ‘ Postcards from the End of the World’ highlight threatened species including the Maugean skate, short-tailed shearwater, red handfish, Burrunan dolphin and Tasmanian fur seals.
MARINE HEATWAVE LOOMING THIS SUMMER, WITH POTENTIAL TO IMPACT SOME MUCH-LOVED AUSSIE SEAFOOD
ABC Rural - Laurissa Smith
15 September 2023
A heightened risk of bushfires, drought and now marine heatwaves are on the cards for this summer, with the forecast warmer waters having the potential to impact Australians' access to seafood.
The weather events will likely hit Tasmania just as seafood operators are harvesting oysters, abalone, and salmon for the Christmas dinner table.
The triple whammy is making its way to the Tasman Sea as a result of the impending, but as yet undeclared, El Niño.
Forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology indicate above-average ocean temperatures around the country, particularly off the coast of Tasmania and Victoria.
This could lead to coral bleaching and changes in fish migration and aquaculture production.
SALMON REPORT SCRUTINISED
The Mercury - Blair Richards
14 September 2023
Tasmania’s Upper House has spent almost a full sitting day debating the merits of the state’s salmon industry in response to a motion brought by an independent MLC.
On Tuesday, McIntyre MLC Tania Rattray moved that the House note the economic analysis provided by the Deloitte Access Economics Report dated 2020 regarding the Tasmanian salmon industry and acknowledge that the Tasmanian salmon industry is a vital social and economic contributor to the Tasmanian community.
COLD WATER ON JOBS BOAST
The Mercury - David Killick
12 September 2015
A think tank has challenged claims aquaculture is vital to the state’s economic future – saying its employment impact has been overstated and public concern about environmental impacts is increasing.
A motion before the Legislative Council calls on the upper house to acknowledge that the Tasmanian salmon industry “is a vital social and economic contributor to the Tasmanian community”.
But the Australia Institute says census numbers show there are, at best, 1722 people employed in the salmon industry in Tasmania.
WE’RE SKATING ON THIN ICE
The Mercury
8 September 2023
National Threatened Species Day is held each year on September 7, a day particularly poignant in this state as it marks the same date in 1936 the last Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, died in Hobart Zoo.
Now, the date is used to bring into sharp focus the more than 2000 Australian plant and animal species listed as threatened.
Much work is under way to ensure greater protections for our flora and fauna. Millions of dollars are poured into environmental programs so that the, at times, deplorable decisions and actions of our past are not repeated.
SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA MARINE HEATWAVE FORECAST TO BE LITERALLY OFF THE SCALE
Patch of Tasman sea expected to warm over spring and summer to temperatures that risk significant losses to sea life
The Guardian
27 August 2023
Australia’s south-east could be in for a marine heatwave that is literally off the scale, raising the prospect of significant losses in fishing and aquaculture.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a patch of the Tasman Sea off Tasmania and Victoria could be at least 2.5C above average from September to February, and it could get hotter.
DOCUMENTS REVEAL CONCERN ABOUT TASMANIAN SALMON HATCHERY, DIESEL SPILLS
ABC Listen - Alexandra Humphries
22 August 2023
Tasmania's salmon industry operates in some of the state's most pristine waterways, but new documents lift the lid on concerns about the environmental impacts.
The ABC has obtained a list of complaints made to the Environment Protection Authority, which reveal recent investigations into diesel spills, and an algae bloom.
SCIENTISTS HOPING TO CONFIRM RARE HANDFISH SPECIES SPOTTED DURING CSIRO MARINE SURVEY
ABC news - Lucy MacDonald
23 August 2023
A species of fish that hasn't been seen in more than two decades has been spotted in deep waters near Flinders Island.
The discovery was made during a month-long CSIRO voyage that is looking at how climate change has affected the marine environment of south-east Australia.
"It's a really exciting find because this is only the third time that we've seen this particular species," said research technician Carlie Devine.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SALMON FARMING IN THE HUON RIVER?
Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 18 August 2023
“There must have been a salmon escape … you’ll catch those things all day long” – fishing guru Nick Crawford this morning (18 August) on ABC radio Hobart with Leon Compton.
ABC Radio Hobart today reported anglers catching Atlantic salmon below the bridge in Huonville. Tassal and Huon Aquaculture, both now owned by overseas companies, have net pens in the Huon River. Their lease conditions require them to report escapes of more than 500 fish to the EPA within 24 hours. Wes Ford, Director of the EPA, this afternoon confirmed that they have not received any reports.
TAMP RELEASE NEW MAP ON TASMANIAN SALMON & FINFISH AQUACULTURE IMPACT ZONES 2023 OUTLINING THE THREAT TO COMMUNITIES FROM INDUSTRIAL SALMON
TASMANIA’S COASTLINE UNDER THREAT AND UNPROTECTED FROM INDUSTRIAL SALMON EXPANSION
Media release – Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP), 15 August, 2023
The Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP) has released a new and detailed map revealing the areas impacted from industrial salmon farming around the state.
Tasmanians should be appalled at the extent of a destructive industry set to double its expansion by 2030. The new map highlights the existing leases, and critical impacts not the least being that the Maugean skate found only in Macquarie Harbour is being pushed to the brink of extinction.
SALMON INDUSTRY OVERSTATES ECONOMIC IMPACT
Media release – Tasmanian Independent Science Council, 15 August 2023
The Tasmanian Independent Science Council has reviewed economic claims made by Salmon Tasmania and finds that the claims are misleading and overstate the economic and social contribution of the industry.
NATIONAL RECOVERY TEAM FOR THE MAUGEAN SKATE MEETING 1: PUBLIC COMMUNIQUE
4 August 2023
The National Recovery Team for the Maugean Skate was formed in July 2023 and its first meeting was held on 27 July 2023 in Hobart.
BACKGROUND The Tasmanian endemic Maugean skate (Zearaja maugeana) is listed as Endangered under both Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The species is also a priority threatened species under the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan (2022-2032).
ALARM AT CRISIS TALKS OVER FUTURE OF SKATE
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
28 July 2023
Tasmania could play host to the world’s first modern extinction of a shark or ray if extreme and urgent action isn’t taken to prevent the Maugean skate from dying out, a leading marine scientist has said amid crisis talks being held in Hobart this week.
It comes after recent monitoring by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies indicated there had been a significant decline in the last population of the ancient species at Macquarie Harbour.
SALMON LABELLING DEMAND
Call to strip certificate
The Mercury - Rob Inglis
26 July 2023
More than 80 organisations from across the world are calling for sustainability certifications to be stripped from Tasmanian salmon raised in waters near Macquarie Harbour, asserting that “unsuspecting shoppers” are being misled.
Signatories from 17 countries have put their names to open letters sent to the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and GlobalG.A.P. accreditation schemes, urging them to revoke certifications included on the labelling of Tasmanian salmon products.
It comes as concerns mount over the future of the endangered Maugean skate, with the last remaining population of the species being at Macquarie Harbour on the state’s West Coast.
GLOBAL CALLS TO REVOKE ‘MISLEADING’ SUSTAINABLE FARMING CERTIFICATION FOR SALMON IN TASMANIA’S MACQUARIE HARBOUR
Letters sent to two accreditation schemes say pollution is contributing to the extinction of a critically endangered fish species
The Guardian - Lisa Cox
26 July 2023
More than 80 organisations around the globe have called for two international accreditation schemes to revoke sustainability certifications for salmon and trout farmed in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, with letters labelling the certification “misleading”.
RN DRIVE WITH ANDY PARK - ABC RADIO NATIONAL
26 July 2026
Let me ask you - what's for dinner tonight at your house? How did you decide what's for dinner, more specifically? Do you think about how sustainable your meal might be or if the farming practice is harming other animals or environments? It is pretty easy to get overwhelmed about what the right choice is when you're hungry. So, let's talk about it before you get too ravenous. What if I told you that an animal that's been around since the time of the dinosaurs was at risk of extinction, and the juicy slab of salmon on your dinner date may be the cause?
NGOs P BAP, GlobalGAP TO DROP CERTIFICATION OF FISH FARMS IN TASMANIA
Seafood Source - Chris Chase
24 July 2023
More than 80 environmental organizations are calling on GlobalG.A.P. and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification schemes to revoke their certification of salmon and trout farms near Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania.
SALMON FARMING A RISK FOR MARINE LIFE
The Veterinarian - by Admin
20 July 2023
For several years concerns have been raised about Tasmania’s salmon farming industry and the impact it is having on the state’s coastal wildlife. With the Tasmanian government’s long-term Salmon Industry Plan due to be released in May, several leading scientists and professionals have spoken out about the viability of the industry’s plans for expansion.
Members of the Tasmanian Independent Science Council are dedicated to science-based policy reform that will safeguard the Tasmanian environment’s long-term health. The group has called for a pause on further growth of the salmon industry until more robust scientific and regulatory frameworks are established. TISC has produced a Plan B with recommendations designed to transition the industry out of shallow coastal waterways and onto land and/or further offshore.
RURAL LANDOWNERS PAY THE PRICE AS TASMANIA STRUGGLES WITH INDUSTRIAL WASTE
ABC News - Luke Bowden & Will Murray
15 June 2023
In short: Tasmania is struggling to deal with its industrial waste, challenging the clean green image the state has been promoting for decades
What's next? Following waste from its source sheds light on a labyrinth of environmental, legal and government regulations, which some feel are being ignored
OPPONENTS, DEFENDERS OF TASMANIA’S SALMON INDUSTRY AS ENTRENCHED AS EVER A FISH FARMING GROWS
ABC News - Fiona Blackwood
20 May 2023
About 400,000 people visit Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) every year, but they won't find Tasmanian salmon on the menu at any of its restaurants.
"Why would we take a risk with a product that's ever expanding … the risk to our environment is so great," said MONA's executive chef Vince Trim.
Farmed salmon has not been served at MONA since 2017.
Mr Trim said customers have been supportive of the move.
TASMANIAN SALMON INDUSTRY FUTURE PLAN RELEASED - BUT FISH-FARMING OPPONENTS SAY IT FAILS ON SEVERAL FRONTS
ABC Rural - Fiona Breen
2 May 2023
The Tasmanian government has hopped on the PR road train to try to help rebuild public support for the island's salmon industry.
"This is an industry that desperately wants the Tasmanian people's approval," Primary Industries Minister Jo Palmer said.
The minister was speaking at the release of the Tasmanian government's Salmon Industry Plan in Hobart, where she also admitted the big salmon companies had lost their social licence with the public over the past years.
DRAFT RULES FOR TASMANIAN SALMON INDUSTRY PROVIDE FEWER PROTECTIONS THAN THOSE IN PLACE, CRITICS SAY
ABC News - Rebecca Hewett
30 March 2023
New environmental standards proposed for the Tasmanian fish farming industry have been described as "half baked" and weaker than the ones already in place.
Louise Cherrie is an environmental management specialist and a former member of the Tasmanian Marine Farming Planning Review Panel, which approves new salmon farming leases.
She resigned in 2018, frustrated at the lack of questioning over fish farm expansion into Storm Bay.
ALARM AT FISH FARM RULES
The Mercury - Blair Richards
20 March 2023
THE Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), a leading marine scientist and a former member of the body which oversees fish farming have panned new draft regulations for the industry.
The 28-page draft Environmental Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming 2023 covers issues including environmental assessments, impacts on seabeds, biomass, dissolved nitrogen output, noise, light and waste management. Public submissions on the draft closed last week.
EPA CONFIRMS SALMON GIANT TASSAL TRIED TO STOP PUBLIC RELEASE OF REPORT OF ANTIBIOTIC USE IN FISH FARMS
ABC - Rebecca Hewett
27 February 2023
The head of Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority has confirmed the state's largest fish farmer tried to prevent a report on antibiotic use in its fish pens being released because it was 'commercial in confidence'.
The documents show in the course of that inquiry, it was revealed Tassal earlier tried to block the release of information about the use of 1.3 tonnes of antibiotics at its Okehampton Bay leases, on the state's east coast.
EPA director Wes Ford told ABC Radio Hobart, at the time he had "no power to compel the documents to be released".
DOCUMENTS REVEAL TASSAL WANTED TWO REPORTS ON ANTIBIOTICS USE AT SALMON FARMS KEPT SECRET
More than 31 tonnes of antibiotics have been used at Tasmanian salmon farms over two decades
Tasmanian Enquirer - Bob Burton
27 February 2023
Right to Information documents reveal that Tasmania’s largest salmon company sought to block the public release of monitoring reports submitted to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) after using more than two tonnes of antibiotics at two of its fish farms.
A table in one of the documents disclosed to Tasmanian Inquirer reveals the Tasmanian salmon industry has used more than 31.4 tonnes of antibiotics in marine leases since 2003.
“The use of antibiotics appears to be increasing, which is extremely disappointing, given that vaccines are available. The salmon producers need to lift their game”, said Sheenagh Neill, a spokesperson for Marine Protection Tasmania.
WHY ANTI SALMON ACTIVISTS ARE PROTESTING RIGHT NOW
I Quit Sugar - Melissa Evans
16 December 2022
Activists have joined forces to boycott the Tasmanian salmon industry. Here’s what you need to know.
Anti-salmon farming activists are in agreement over the boycotting of a number of meetings set to discuss the draft salmon plan set out by the government. The reason for their protesting against the Tasmanian salmon industry comes down to their beliefs that it’s engaging in deceit, dishonesty and fraud, suggesting that the industry may be endangering lives too.
TASMANIAN SALMON FARMS USED MORE THAN A TONNE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN 2022 DISEASE OUTBREAKS
Tassal and Huon Aquaculture did not announce use of antibiotics, which may contribute to growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs
The Guardian - Bob Burton
14 November 2022
More than a tonne of antibiotics was used to control a potentially deadly fish disease at two salmon farms in southern Tasmania earlier this year, but the companies and government made no public announcements at the time.
TASMANIAN SALMON INDUSTRY USED MORE THAN 2,400 ANTI-SEAL EXPLOSIVES IN THREE MONTHS
‘Seal crackers’ and bean bag rounds are designed to scare off protected wildlife but critics say the occasionally deadly measures amount to animal cruelty
The Guardian - Bob Burton
22 August 2022
The Tasmanian salmon industry used more than 2,400 underwater explosives against seals in the last quarter, with Huon Aquaculture reporting the death of two seals on its leases.
Department of Natural Resources and Environment data disclosed under Right to Information laws show Huon Aquaculture used 1,887 explosives in the three months to the end of June, a rate of more than 20 a day. The company has used more than 10,600 since January 2021.
HUON AQUACAULTURE ACCOUNTS FOR 75% OF SEAL DEATHS AT TASMANIAN SALMON FARMS IN PAST YEAR
Data shows company increased its use of underwater explosives, releasing 8,057 ‘seal crackers’ to scare the animals
The Guardian - Bob Burton
9 May 2022
Huon Aquaculture accounted for the deaths of at least three-quarters of seals killed at Tasmanian salmon farms since the start of last year, with new data showing the company released more than 8,000 underwater explosives aimed at scaring the seals.
PROTESTERS RAMP UP ANTI-SALMON CAMPAIG IN SYDNEY
The Mercury - Judy Augustine
14 April 2022
A Tasmanian anti-salmon group is campaigning to discourage mainlanders consuming farmed salmon, taking its fight to Sydney.
Neighbours of Fish Farming will hand out anti-salmon leaflets at the Sydney Pyrmont Fish Market on Thursday in the lead up to Easter.
‘BATTERY-HEN FARMING OF THE SEA’: SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVES TO EATING SALMON
There’s good news for salmon lovers hoping to reduce the environmental impact of their food
The Guardian - Ann Ding
12 December 2021
Salmon is consistently one of the most popular kinds of seafood in Australia, but the Tasmanian farmed salmon industry has attracted significant criticism for its continued expansion and alleged environmental impact.
WOOLWORTHS CONCERNED BY CLAIMS SALMON CERTIFICATION SCHEME ‘MAY NOT BE FIT FOR PURPOSE’
Supermarket ‘closely reviewing’ report that found the certification system failed to prevent a mass fish kill in Tasmania
The Guardian - Royce Kurmelovs
9 September 2021
Supermarket giant Woolworths says it is concerned by claims an environmental certification scheme used to assess the Tasmanian salmon it sells may not be “fit for purpose”.
WWF AUSTRALIA ADMITTED TASMANIAN SALMON FARMS ‘NOT SUSTAINABLE’, CAMPAIGNER SAYS
Geoff Cousins says head of WWF made the comments privately, despite the organisation having certified a major operator in the past
The Guardian - Royce Kurmelovs
4 September 2021
The head of World Wide Fund for Nature Australia admitted in private that Tasmanian salmon farming was “not sustainable”, despite WWF having endorsed the industry’s practice through its certification program until 2019, environmentalist Geoff Cousins has said.
FLANAGAN’S ANTI-SALMON PUSH GROWING, AS EPA EMAILS TO TASSAL REVEALED
ABC News - Alexandra Humphries
29 April 2021
The scale and cause of the deaths of a large number of farmed salmon in February remain a mystery, with documents obtained by the ABC revealing the director of Tasmania's environmental watchdog assured the fish producer he "did not provide a detailed or complete response" to questions from the broadcaster.
CONSERVATIONISTS CALL FOR BAN ON EXPLOSIVES TO SCARE SEALS AT SALMON FARM IN FEDERAL WATERS OFF TASMANIA
Federal government has not ruled out the use of underwater explosives and ‘bean bag rounds’ in trial off north-west Tasmania
The Guardian - Bob Burton
21 March 2022
Environment groups have called on the federal government to rule out the use of explosives and guns loaded with “bean bag” rounds to scare seals at a proposed salmon farming trial in commonwealth waters off the north-west coast of Tasmania.
ANTI-SALMON FARM PROTEST TAKES TO THE WATER AT KING ISLAND
ABC News - Damien McIntyre
22 April 2019
Opposition to a controversial salmon farm on King Island has escalated with more than 100 people taking part in a protest to protect a world-class surf break.
A group of King Island residents do not want salmon producer Tassal to expand its operations off the island.
They fear establishing a salmon farm near world-famous surf break Martha Lavinia would damage the environment.
TASMANIAN SALMON SHOULD BE OFF THE MENU FOR NOW, SAYS CONSERVATION GROUP
Fish eaters advised to ‘Say No’ due to environmental concerns surrounding Tasmania’s salmon farming industry
The Guardian - Alexandra Spring
21 October 2018
It’s one of Australia’s – and the world’s – favourite fish but Tasmanian Atlantic salmon should be off the menu for now, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, publishers of Australia’s independent sustainable seafood guide.
On Wednesday, the AMCS downgraded the farmed fish’s rating from an amber “Think Twice” to a red “Say No” due to ongoing environmental concerns. The previous review was in 2015.
WWF EMAIL REVEALS CONCERN OVER SALMON INDUSTRY’S ‘NEGATIVE IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT’
ABC News - Richard Baines and Harriet Aird
11 May 2017
An email from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) obtained by the ABC reveals concerns that Tasmania's salmon industry is having a "significant negative impact on the environment" despite the organisation being paid to endorse the environmental credentials of Australia's biggest producer, Tassal.
SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT TASMANIA’S SALMON FARMING
green left - Nicholas James
14 April 2016
At the edge of the south east, the Arctic is nebulous, but its ice shards are felt on the hands, and you can feel tingles of dim isolation in the wildness of Tasmania's oceans.
Sequences and currents from Tasmania's Huon Valley rivers and Cygnet Bay dip to the deep-sea behind the pristine Bruny Island. The bio-network of inlets, bays and streams move lightly and serenely downwards with the humid vapour of the mountains. Sheltered water habitats protect rare crays, platypus, seals and southern right whales.