Media release – NW Tas for Clean Oceans, 7 April 2023
Call for northwest coast and adjacent islands to be declared exclusion zones for finfish farming.
All three multi-national salmon companies have publicly stated they are not intending to apply for finfish leases on the northwest coast of Tasmania.(Refer Advocate article 7 April 2023).
On 31 August 2022, NW Tas for Clean Oceans met with Minister Jo Palmer and asked her to allocate the same status to the northwest coast as she has for the Mercury Passage on Tassie’s east coast i.e. to permanently exclude it from finfish farming under the Finfish Farming Environment Act 2017.
“For all the reasons outlined to the Minister by NWTAS for Clean Oceans including damage to our marine environment and threatened species and our thriving tourist industry, short term destructive industries, including finfish farming, must not be permitted on our northwest coast,” said Robyn Weare, spokesperson for NWTAS for Clean Oceans.
“We do not want future generations to have to fight again to keep our pristine oceans clean and healthy.”
“The government’s Salmon Plan, due for release on 1 May 2023, is the perfect opportunity for the Minister to say she has listened to the community and scientific experts and she approves the northwest coast and adjacent islsnds becoming a permanent no-go zone for finfish farming and that the area has been excluded from the government’s imminent Salmon Plan.”
