Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 10 May 2022
Salmon Symposium disrupted by Bob Brown Foundation ocean activists
Today’s 2022 Tasmanian Salmon Symposium was challenged over the industry’s destructive impact by Bob Brown Foundation ocean activists, while a crowd of 80 rallied outside the convention centre in Hobart.
“The salmon barons and the Blue Economy CRC are inside this symposium planning how to industrialise the oceans with giant salmon factories, hydrogen and offshore wind in the middle of a biodiversity crisis. This will mean large-scale industry, automation of jobs and huge impacts on marine life. With the same operators and the same regulator, we will see all the same issues as coastal salmon farming, only larger scale and out-of-sight and out-of-mind.” says Bob Brown Foundation’s Fish Farms and Marine Campaigner Bec Howarth.
“Both the federal and state governments are pushing massive offshore factories seizing federal waters with no consultation with the Tasmanian people. This is not the sustainable or environmental solution being touted when current issues for Tasmanian coastal communities and our wildlife go unsolved. It is the Tasmanian wildlife, oceans and community that will bear the burden of the environmental, lifestyle and scenic degradation that’s coming down the line.”
“We are intervening today and calling for an end to this salmon sea grab. We are in the midst of biodiversity and climate crises and it is time to prioritise ocean health, not handing it away for free to big business for corporate greed. Tasmanians must use this federal election to vote for decision-makers who will work to protect oceans, coasts and marine life, not hand it away to serve corporate greed. This destructive industry plays havoc with Tasmania’s unique and pristine marine environment and is responsible for the deaths of protected seals every year. We are protesting outside the symposium to be the voice of Tasmania’s oceans and marine life,” concluded Bec Howarth.
