Media release – Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection, 14 August 2021
Claims of ‘good practice’ are provable lies
Salmon industry needs to get out of public waters on to land
Claims by Huon Aquaculture and the Brazilian multinational, JBS, which is seeking to buy the Tasmanian salmon producer, to be good stewards of the sea and of livestock are demonstrably false.
Regular occurrences of high numbers of salmon deaths, escapes, wounding of seals, excessive use of underwater explosive deterrents and projectiles fired at seals from shotguns provide more than enough proof that animal welfare is not a high priority of the industry in Tasmania. These events and practices are just the tip of the iceberg – revealed only because the industry is forced to. Much remains hidden.
JBS’s record of animal husbandry is widely condemned internationally while the multinational’s lack of concern for the environment is revealed by its connection to the clearing of Amazon rainforest for ranches to raise cattle for its abattoirs. It’s record is so bad it has drawn warnings from HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks.
If JBS doesn’t give a damn for the environment in its own backyard one can only wonder how much care they will take of our small island in the Great Southern Ocean on the other side of the world.
How majority shareholders Peter and Frances Bender can bring themselves to sell to the ‘Brazilian Butcher’ with its record of corruption and of closing Tasmanian abattoirs and sacking workers despite Government subsidies is beyond comprehension.
The Benders always speak about protecting Tasmania’s environment and of loyalty to their workforce but their decision to sell out to a multinational marauder undermines those claims.
TAMP has let all potential buyers – mining magnate, Dr Andrew Forrest, Canadian company Cooke Aquaculture and JBS – that they can prove good faith by making a clear undertaking to get Huon Aquaculture out of public waters and into land-based production within 7 years.
Such an undertaking would draw the support of all TAMP’s affiliates, ensure the industry’s future and protect and grow jobs.
This is a practical, affordable means of production which is being developed all over the world, into which almost $US3-billion is invested and which provides the ability to properly regulate and dispose of effluent.
The only reason the Tasmanian industry will not make the move is because they place profits ahead of Tasmania, its workers and its waterways.
Media release – Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection, 15 August 2021
A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
HUON AQUACULTURE MUST NOT BE SOLD TO CORRUPT BATISTA BROTHERS
US SENATORS DEMAND INVESTIGATION INTO CORRUPT MULTINATIONAL BUYING TASMANIAN SALMON PRODUCER
Huon Aquaculture’s Peter and Frances Bender can no longer back the corrupt Brazilian Batista brothers in a deal to sell their company and then walk away with $200 million.
In light of demands by two of the United States’ most powerful senators for an investigation into the Brazilian multinational, JBS, for breathtaking corruption in the US and globally, a sale to JBS by the Benders is now utterly untenable. (see attachment)
The Benders should stop the sale and, if they don’t, the Foreign Investment Review Board must act to prevent it.
If US Senators Bob Menendez (Dem) and Marco Rubio (Rep) can show the corrupt Batista brothers ‘jeopardize (sic) our economic security, present direct risks to our businesses, and undermine our efforts to fight corruption abroad’, JBS cannot be allowed to expand their influence in this state.
A sale to JBS would render Tasmania a lamb to the slaughter.
The great pity for the Tasmania is that the two under bidders, Australian mining magnate, Dr Andrew Forrest, and Canada’s Cooke Aquaculture cannot be seen as white knights waiting in the wings.
Dr Forrest’s soothing remarks to the media cannot disguise he plans to continue and expand the industry in our waterways and Cooke Aquaculture has a deeply flawed environmental record.
The future of the industry is on land and any buyer of Huon needs to recognise Tasmanians will accept nothing less than a guaranteed transition to land-based salmon production.
