Australian salmon farmers welcome bill that ends reconsideration of fish farming expansion in Macquarie Harbour

 

Salmon farmers in Australia have welcomed a decision by the country's Senate to pass a new bill that ends a formal reconsideration of whether an expansion of fish farming in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour in 2012 was properly approved.

 

The reconsideration by environment minister Tanya Plibersek was triggered by a legal request from three NGOs - the Australia Institute, the Bob Brown Foundation and the Environmental Defenders' Office – that claim salmon farming reduces dissolved oxygen levels in the harbour water and threatens the survival of the endangered Maugean skate.

 

Labour government and Liberal opposition senators voted in favour of the bill after the government guillotined debate to bring a vote, the Guardian reported. Aussie prime minister Anthony Albanese had promised the government would legislate to ensure there were "appropriate environmental laws" to continue sustainable salmon farming in the harbour and protect local jobs.

 

Salmon Tasmania, which represents Tasmania's three salmon farming companies - Tassal, Huon, and Petuna Aquaculture - said the bill, which amends the Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act, was intended to end uncertainty for salmon workers and their families in northwest Tasmania.

 

"This is about our people, their families, and the [salmon farming] community of Strahan, who have been living and working with uncertainty and under intense scrutiny for over 18 months," said Salmon Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin. "The laws of Australia were letting these people down in triggering a long, convoluted and unprecedented EPBC (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation) review process with no end in sight. This legislation… ends this uncertainty and lets these Tasmanians get on with their lives.

 

"The industry has always had confidence in the science and regulation underpinning its operations in Macquarie Harbour.

 

"We look to the latest Environment Protection Agency Tasmania monitoring report showing the harbour is in its best health in over a decade, and the latest IMAS (University of Tasmania Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) research confirming the Maugean skate population is now at its long-term average.

 

"There are a lot of factors influencing the health of the harbour and the skate numbers. Simply shutting down an industry that has been operating for 40 years and underpins the economic and social wellbeing of an entire community was never an appropriate or just solution."

 

Salmon Tasmania said it was "under no illusions this is the end of the issue".

 

"We fully expect the same cashed-up activist organisations who triggered this whole process 18 months ago, will be now quickly lawyering up to challenge this legislation," said the fish farming body. "We can only have faith the parliament has passed laws that will stand up to any test."

- Fish Farming Expert