FISH FARM TOWN

Public call for sustainable industry

IT HAS been less than a year since Huon Aquaculture founder Frances Bender broke industry ranks to speak out about environmental conditions in Macquarie Harbour.

In the roughly 600-strong town of Strahan on the state’s West Coast, where Tasmania’s three aquaculture companies base their Macquarie Harbour operations, the comments came as a shock. Strahan’s two major industries — aquaculture and tourism — focus on the harbour, which is six times bigger than Sydney Harbour and located at the edge of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Strahan local Dianne Coon said the first the town knew of Ms Bender’s concerns was when the ABC’s Four Corners aired them on national television.

Ms Coon said there had been concerns that talk of “dead zones” in the harbour would damage the town’s tourism sector.

“If we destroy the reputation of Macquarie Harbour we damage the [tourism] industry,” Ms Coon said. “If the harbour was being destroyed, we needed to know.”

The Mercury visited the area last week to speak to the salmon producers and locals, and found a community that desperately wants aquaculturelture to succeed, but to learn les-lessons from the past.

Aquaculture has been operating in Macquarie Harbour since the mid-1980s, when Tasmania’s Atlantic salmon industry was founded.

For the most part, locals say the aquaculture companies put too manyy fish in the water after expan-ansion was approved in 2012.

In a Talking Point articlerticle published in June, Huon cofounder Frances Bender said: “We in the industry were allowed to put more and more fish in from 2012 and we pushed the environment too hard and now Mother Nature has caught up with us.”

Tassal says it is simplistic and not correct to draw a correlation between the expansion of the industry and declining environmental conditions.

The issue of the state of the harbour and the size of fish stocks is now the basis of ongoing court action involving the three aquaculture companies and the state and federal governments.

But at the coal face, West Coast Recreation Association president Brian Gardiner believes aquaculture was sustainable before the expansion — and can be so again.

“There didn’t seem to be many problems up until the last few years, but there’s definitely been a change in the ecology of the harbour itself,” he said.

“We feel that it should go back to as it was before — about the 10,000 [tonnes] mark or thereabouts.”

Mr Gardiner believes that aquaculture, fishing and the Maugean skate — the endangered prehistoric species found only in Tasmania’s Macquarie and Bathurst harbours — can coexist, if managed correctly.

The Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies is studying the skate to determine what effects salmon farming is having on the species.

Mr Gardiner said members of his association had restricted their fishing activities to areas less than 5m deep to reduce the impact on the skate.

He said locals fished the harbour for flounder, and sometimes cod, but other edible fish had mostly disappeared.

In town, the restaurants serve Petuna fish — salmon and ocean trout. One chef told us there was no conspiracy — it’s simply easier to source Petuna’s products fresh from the harbour, while Huon and Tassal cart fish out for processing and then deliver it back later.

But any divisions between the salmon companies do not seem to be felt in town.

As a West Coast councillor and Strahan resident, Leigh Styles says any fighting is happening up the food chain.

“The community still comes together at the pub, we’re not seeing that divide. Not here in Strahan, anyway,” he said.

It’s true. The Mercury visited Hamer’s pub — we’re told it’s pint and parmy night — and it’s full of aquaculture workers. We identify ourselves as Mercury staff, and are given a wide berth. No one speaks out about the industry that supports their families.

No one wants salmon farming to leave town.

“Aquaculture has existed here for over 20 years, and I don’t think you would find a single person in Strahan or on the West Coast that doesn’t support the industry,” Councillor Styles said.

Mr Gardiner believes people support aquaculture, so long as it is sustainable. He said people would probably tell you what they thought the problems were in the harbour, but they “don’t talk on record”.

There are concerns expressed about a draft option aired at a recent Tassal community meeting to deal with waste removed from fish pens, by pumping liquid extracted from solid waste though an outfall pipe off nearby Ocean Beach.

But Tassal’s senior manager of corporate engagement Barbara McGregor said the company had heard community concerns and was proactively pursuing other options.

The company preferred to reuse the waste for agricultural fertiliser, but the final decision would be made by the Environment Protection Authority, she said.

Ms McGregor said the past 12 months had been challenging.

“For a company that has a history of outstanding compliance, to experience what we’ve gone through at Macquarie Harbour was challenging not only for our company but for our staff who work here,” she said.

Then, just this week, the EPA publicly confirmed all Tassal’s Macquarie Harbour leases were back in compliance for beggiatoa — the thick bacterial mats that led the EPA to order destocking of the company’s Franklin lease.

Tassal has installed 14 waste capture liners on its pens, required because of the additional biomass the company is farming in the harbour.

Tassal western zone senior manager Don McIntyre said so far the capture system had worked without issue, capturing between 73 and 75 per cent of waste from the lined pens.

He said the “world first” system had attracted interest from other aquaculture companies across the globe.

Cr Styles was adamant there had been strong progress made in recent times.

He spoke highly of the increased communications between the three companies — Huon Aquaculture, Tassal and Petuna — and the community since issues were raised about the harbour’s health.

When asked if this summer would be a key moment for aquaculture in Strahan, Cr Styles said “absolutely”.

“Things went pear-shaped this time last year. I don’t think we’re off the hook yet, we still need to be very careful, but I think we realise that.”

Ms Coon was optimistic that the harbour would recover, and that the aquaculture companies were trying to be good corporate citizens.

“They put too many fish in the harbour. They learnt that, and they’re pulling them out,” she said.

Mr Gardiner said he believed Strahan would ultimately have a sustainable industry for the long term.

“If we end up with a fish farming industry that can say that their fish are nurtured in waters flowing from the Wilderness World Heritage Area, they are reared alongside a two million-year-old skate, they will be the peak in sustainability,” he said.

Huon Aquaculture’s court cases over conditions in the harbour are continuing in the Supreme and Federal courts.

Tassal will not put fish in the water at their Franklin lease for at least 12 months.

There didn’t seem to be many problems up until [the expansion] ... We feel that it should go back to as it was before BRIAN GARDINER, top left If we destroy the reputation of Macquarie Harbour we damage the [tourism] industry DIANNE COON, far left