INTERSTATE BILLBOARDS LATEST ANTI-SALMON SALVO
BILLBOARDS have been erected in regional Victoria decrying the Tasmanian salmon industry’s “destruction” of waterways, with more of the signs set to be rolled out in capital cities across the country before the end of the year.
It’s just the latest salvo to be launched at the embattled industry following the publication of Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan’s book, Toxic, which is billed as an expose of the industry and its practices.
The Tasmania-based Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) group is behind the new roadside billboards, the first of which reads, “Eating salmon? Killing Tasmania” (pictured).
NOFF president Peter George said more “graphic illustrations and messages” would be seen in capital cities and other regional areas “over coming weeks and months”.
“We’re telling Australian consumers to forget the idea that Tasmanian salmon is ‘clean, green and healthy’ for them or for our precious island waterways,” he said.
“Tassal, Huon Aquaculture and Petuna will go on wreaking havoc with the state’s environment and its brand of clean, green and healthy products until consumers learn the truth and turn against their unhealthy, damaging product.
“No longer can Big Salmon hide behind the lie that their fish are anything but the caged chickens of the sea, swimming in their own filth, fed on ground-up wild-caught fish, caged chicken offcuts, chemical additives and soy beans frequently sourced from cleared Amazonian forests.”
Mr George said NOFF’s campaign would also have a presence in Tasmania and would target investors, shareholders and superannuation funds, warning them that “investing in
Tasmanian farmed salmon must now be recognised as unethical”.
Julian Amos, a former state Labor minister who is now a spokesman for Tasmania’s three salmon companies, described the billboards as “purely inflammatory”.
“It damages the whole of the Tasmanian brand,” the Tasmanian
Salmonid Growers Association spokesman said.
“This is extremely irresponsible. I can’t emphasise how irresponsible it is to such a broad range of interests within Tasmania – far beyond the salmon interest.
“It’s just extraordinary that they’d stoop so low.”