Local residents and land owners have always held concern over the FinFish Farms in Long Bay since their introduction in 1986. On the 20th October 1992 and application was made to extend the operation of its original 5 hectares to a further 10 hectares. The permit was refused based on undertakings given in 1987 by the then Minister for Sea Fisheries (Mr R Groom MHA). It was later overturned on appeal and the expansion went through. No surveys of native fish stocks and no environmental impact studies were carried out at the time. FinFish Farming continued in Long Bay until mid 2006 when it ceased.

In August 2017, TASSAL commenced FinFish Farming again and opened up 7 pens in Long Bay with a further 7 pens introduced at a later date (and to this date there are now a total of 16 pens). They had not farmed in this area since 2006 when pens were fully removed from the site.

In just over a year of the pens returning to the bay you could see both Long and Stingaree Bays decline. What was observed was the water clarity not as pristine, white sandy seabeds were turning a mucky colour and seagrass beds were being smothered in algal blooms; rotting and collapsing. By February 2019 there was noticeable sludge appearing on the shoreline in an area that does not get flushed out (Long and Stingaree Bay are situated 10km up from the mouth of the Tasman Sea and do not see big tidal movements. The smaller, more sheltered Stingaree Bay sees even less flushing).

Algal Blooms and nuisance seaweeds continue to dominate the bays until present day and can be seen clearly in the following photos.