Fish net expansion plan

Rezoning sought in bid to build repair workshop

A TASMANIAN company billed as being a leader in aquaculture net technology is seeking a land rezoning to enable the construction of a landbased net repair workshop in the Huon Valley.

According to documents lodged with the Tasmanian Planning Commission on behalf of Nets Tasmania Pty Ltd, the plan involves rezoning 388 Scotts Rd, Cairns Bay from significant agriculture to rural resource.

This would enable the construction of the facility, which would feature a 65mx65m concrete slab to “store, lay out and support the nets being processed along with mechanical lifting equipment,” a staffroom, toilet facilities and parking.

The nets to be repaired would be trucked to the Cairns Bay site in open-top 40ft shipping containers.

“A permanent labour force of 10 to 12 skilled net-making employees is anticipated to be required on site to meet the current demand of maintenance works on this class of nets but provision in facilities will allow for up to a total of 25 personnel including admin staff in peak seasonal demand of net maintenance,” planner Danielle Gray said, in a report submitted in support of the proposal.

“However, more than 90 per cent of the time, the site will be occupied by no more than 12 staff assisted by one administrative assistant.”

Ms Gray said the new facility was needed because the latest generation of nets – KGrid, a single-unit net cage assembled by Nets Tasmania in Vietnam and then imported to Tasmania – are too large to be repaired and modified onsite for Tassal, which is Nets Tasmania’s major client.

Nets Tasmania is at the “forefront of aquaculture net technology globally,” Ms Gray said.

She said there would be a maximum of four nets per month being delivered to the Cairns Bay site, with the repair of a net typically taking one to two weeks.

“The nets are intensively washed by Tassal prior to coming to the 388 Scotts Rd site and as a result there are no odour issues,” she said.

The proposed working hours are: 6am–4.30pm Monday to Friday with occasional Saturday and Sunday work from 8am–2.30pm (summer) and 8am–4.30pm Monday to Friday (winter).

A development application was first lodged with Huon Valley Council in December 2020 but it was withdrawn due to uncertainty as to what category of use the facility was.

The proposal has received three submissions against it by members of the public.

One Scotts Rd resident said he was “totally” against the proposal.

“I currently work at (Tassal’s) Netslab facility in Dover and experience first-hand the true environmental consequences this type of workplace creates,” the neighbour said.

“How a planning authority could even initiate an approval for such a development next to where people live is absolutely ludicrous.”

The commission has yet to schedule a hearing on the proposal.