Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 9 September 2021

Australian Mainland Billboard Campaign Targets Big Salmon, consumers & supermarkets

A roadside billboard campaign alerting Australian mainland consumers to the destruction industrial salmon farms do to Tasmania’s waterways, coastlines and reputation has been launched in Victoria.

The first large roadside billboards display an outline map of Tasmania on a blood red background with the words, ‘Eating salmon? Killing Tasmania’.

The campaign, starting in regional Victoria and moving into Melbourne, has been launched by Tasmanian-based organisation, Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) and its campaigning arm, ‘It’s your Tassie too’ (IYTT). (https://www.facebook.com/Its-Your-Tassie-Too-104903398491537)

Other graphic illustrations and messages will roll out across regional and capital cities in other states 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.

Woolworths, Coles and IGA can no longer claim to be selling ”sustainable” salmon when the fig leaf of industry accreditation is being stripped away, most recently last week when WWF-Australia conceded that after almost a decade, the accreditation its backs cannot guarantee sustainability.

Tassal, Huon Aquaculture and Petuna will going 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 off-cuts, chemical additives and soy beans frequently sourced from cleared Amazonian forests.

Neighbours of Fish Farming’s campaign will also target investors, shareholders and superannuation funds with the warning that investing in Tasmanian farmed salmon must now be recognised as unethical.

NOFF and its campaign arm will also be making its presence felt in Tasmania where local sales of salmon have already dropped by 50% since the publication of Richard Flanagan’s exposé, Toxic, the Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry.

NOFF was founded in 2016 in response to growing community anger about the impact of fish farming in the Huon Valley. Since then, its influence has spread statewide and is now expanding its footprint to the mainland.

NOFF is an original signatory to the 2020 Dennes Point Declaration (see below) that calls for a halt to the expansion of salmon feedlots in the state, an immediate start to transitioning out of the water on to land and independent, science-led monitoring of the industry.

Dennes Point Declaration, 2020

As amended, April 2021

In support of all Tasmanians who recognise the coasts and waters of our island as their heart country, in recognition of the globally significant riches of Tasmania’s marine world, and to ensure a Tasmanian aquaculture industry that will endure into the future, we call for—

1.  A moratorium on any new industrial fish farms in Tasmania’s coastal, estuary and river waters.

2.  An immediate government led transition out of the sea and into land-based farms.

3.  An independent, empowered and resourced regulator guided by    independent science and community values.

Statement – Woolworths Group, 8 September 2021

Woolworths Group statement on WWF report on Macquarie Harbour

Comment from a Woolworths Group spokesperson:

“Reducing the impact of food production on the environment is an important priority and requires the collaboration of industry, suppliers and government.

“Like all retailers, we rely on the expert evaluation of government and certification bodies to set sustainable standards for the aquaculture industry.

“We’re concerned by the claims that existing certifications may not be fit for purpose, taking into account unique environments like Macquarie Harbour, and we’re closely reviewing the report.

“Encouragingly, we note that while the report focuses on a period up until 2018, regulatory reform has since been implemented to enhance standards at Macquarie Harbour.

“We will continue to engage with our seafood partner WWF, regulators and the industry to promote sustainable practices.”

Background

  • All major salmon suppliers source from Macquarie Harbour, and a number of other sites. The majority of Tasmanian salmon sold by Woolworths is sourced from other locations.

  • Tasmanian salmon production is heavily regulated with a wide range of checks and balances in place for local operators.

  • Woolworths’ sustainable seafood sourcing policy states that all farmed seafood must be third party certified or independently verified by recognised organisations. Its farmed salmon suppliers are certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) or Global GAP standards.

Media release – Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection, 9 September 2021

Australian supermarkets must abandon the hollow lie of sustainability or face consumer backlash.

The response of supermarket chain, Woolworths, to revelations that the Tasmanian salmon it sells is cruel and damaging to the state’s waterways is nothing less than hypocritical and deceitful.

Media reports leave no room to doubt that Tasmanian salmon farming is both cruel to its livestock and environmentally damaging.

Tasmania’s peak marine environmental watchdog, Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection, condemns the hollow statement made by the Woolworths Group and quietly released last night citing ‘concern’ about sustainability accreditation not being ‘fit for purpose’.

This is not the action that a supermarket chain concerned about genuine ‘sustainable production’ would take.

In fact it is non-action revealing the true hypocrisy of its ‘sustainable’ marketing strategy.

Plainly, Woolworths plans to do nothing despite clear evidence that Tasmania’s unique waterways are being destroyed by a salmon industry planning to double in size in just nine years – even before the baseline science on its impact is completed.

Woolworths – along with Coles and other supermarket chains – have no one but themselves to blame if they face consumer backlash or find themselves targeted by activists outraged by their inaction.

TAMP affiliate, Neighbours of Fish Farming has now launched a mainland campaign using large roadside billboards warning consumers ‘Eating Salmon? Killing Tasmania’, starting in regional Victoria with plans to extend into Melbourne and other states.

The last vestiges of the salmon industry’s sustainability was stripped away last week when WWF-Australia’s CEO conceded that the industry was unsustainable despite a WWF-backed accreditation that provides some salmon farms with a veneer of sustainability.