TROUBLED WATERS?

Concerns about the impact of fish farm expansion have been in the air since 2009, when a group made up of salmon farmers and representatives from CSIRO, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Government confirmed a “clear downward trend” of dissolved oxygen levels in deeper water.

In July 2015, on the first day of a Senate inquiry into Tasmania’s aquaculture industry, Premier Will Hodgman called the inquiry a “witch hunt”. Since then, environmental monitoring and reviews appear to have struggled to keep up with industry growth.

Reforms have been provoked by intense media scrutiny – including the ABC’s program which late last year revealed damning evidence about the environmental degradation of Macquarie Harbour – as well as opposition from inside the salmon industry (for example, Huon Aquaculture’s ongoing legal proceedings against the State Government). Increasingly, high-profile campaigns by Environment Tasmania and Marine Protection Tasmania (with local shack owner and AFL star Nick Riewoldt on their 1500+ database) have also held the Government to account.

The Government’s latest Draft Sustainable Industry Growth Plan for the $730 million salmon industry, released last week, identifies “Grow Zones” and “No Grow Zones” with expansion “largely oceanic rather than estuarine” and a new commitment that “other than the small existing leases, the entire East Coast of Tasmania will be salmon-farm free”.

Tassal has described its Okehampton lease, on a preexisting mussel farm, as Australia’s first “eco-aquaculture” site and says it has strong support at Triabunna, being the largest employer in the town. Opponents say just because there’s a pre-existing site, that doesn’t give them a green light to farm salmon. A Tasmania-wide coalition of community and industry interests has this week called on both major parties to agree to a moratorium on lease allocation until what it describes as governance problems are addressed and “proper community consultation” is undertaken.

Environment Tasmania describes the proposed 4000 tonnes (800,000 fish) stock load over 80ha as “intensive”. Tassal has about 7800 tonnes across three leases totalling 280ha in Macquarie Harbour. Tasmanians have until Friday, September 8, to provide feedback on the draft plan, which will be delivered by June next year.