Activists sound alarm over sale

THE sale of Tassal shares to Canadian aquaculture giant Cooke could lead to the last of Tasmania’s local salmon producers falling into foreign hands, environmental activists say.

The Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection raised doubts over whether Tassal could “hold out” from an international takeover after it was revealed Cooke has made three unsuccessful takeover bids

Cooke, which owns salmon farms in the US, Canada, Chile and Scotland, had a “terrible history” and was a greater threat to the marine environment than the ASX-listed Tassal, Neighbours of Fish Farming president Peter George said.

Mr George (inset) said the Canadian firm was behind a blanket ban on salmon farming in Washington state waters after its floating farm tore apart in bad weather and allowed more than 200,000 salmon to escape into Puget Sound in 2017.

“(Cooke) is a big multinational salmon producer and they treat local citizens with the same sort of arrogance other fish farming companies do,” Mr George said.

“Tassal is the last industrial salmon producer here that has a modicum of transparency because it’s listed on the local stock market – it at least has to report its activities once a year.

“If it goes into the hands of Cooke Aquaculture, it will become even more opaque.”

Mr George said multinational salmon farming companies were “hoping to take advantage” of lax regulations in Tasmania, and were an environmental threat because they had no long-term vested interest in the health of the state’s waters.

“These companies will be able to pull out if they want to, and there is no regulation whatsoever for paying reparations,” Mr George said.

Industry body the Tasmanian Salmonid Growers Association declined to comment.