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On Petuna Eyeing Off Storm Bay, Maugean Skate …
Media release – Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection, 8 October 2023
Is Petuna planning fast-track salmon feedlots in Storm Bay As its operations in Macquarie Harbour are threatened?
MAUGEAN SKATE RECOVERY TEAM IN HOBART for 2ND MEETING : Monday Oct 9
Tasmania’s peak marine protection body, TAMP, accuses the state government of planning secret deals with multinational industrial salmon producer, Petuna, to fast track plans for more feedlots in Storm Bay before scientific research is complete.
Petuna is facing a potentially disastrous summer with warming waters threatening its operations in Macquarie Harbour where its main production is focused and where the salmon industry’s impact is a major driver of pollution threatening the Maugean skate’s extinction.
The second Maugean Skate Recovery Team meeting will be held in Hobart tomorrow (Monday) – the last planned for this year despite the looming threat of warming waters further impacting Macquarie Harbour over summer.
Petuna’s main production is in Macquarie Harbour but is planning expansion in Storm Bay.
The New Zealand/Japanese conglomerate Sealord, which owns Petuna, wants to spilt planned feedlots into two locations in the north of Storm Bay, plans that fly in the face of common sense, community opposition and scientific advice.
Sealord’s CEO, Doug Paulin, hosted a Storm Bay voyage for Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, Industries minister, Jo Palmer and Environment minister, Roger Jaensch last month but none revealed the true purpose of the trip.
TAMP spokesperson, Peter George, says the government has a history of doing backroom deals with the salmon industry.
“The Government must reveal what Petuna is demanding and whether it is seeking to expedite establishing two lease areas, one south of Betsey Island and one closer to Frederick Henry and Norfolk bays,” says Mr George.
“The bays are home to the critically endangered red handfish and are on the doorstep of communities that just don’t want to live with open-net salmon cages spewing effluent and damaging this sensitive waterway.
“The area south of Betsey Island was approved in a flawed review process which saw two experts resign from the Marine Farming Planning Review Panel while the second, near Frederick Henry and Norfolk bays has not even been publicly or scientifically assessed.
“The whole undertaking smacks of crisis management of the worst kind.
“Given the secrecy that has so undermined public confidence in government’s dealings with the multinationals running the salmon industry in Tasmania, we must see all communications these ministers have had with Petuna over its plans to expand into Storm Bay.
Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 8 October 2023
NOFF Condemns TASSAL’S OWNER DECLARING “Environmentalists are the enemy” As second Maugean skate meeting looms
NOFF condemns Glenn Cooke, one of the owners of the industrial salmon farms damaging the health of Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour and threatening the extinction of the Maugean skate, for what amounts to a declaration of war on environmental groups holding the industry to account.
https://www.seafoodsource.com/
Mr Cooke’s company, Cooke Aquaculture, owns Tasmania’s largest industrial salmon producer, Tassal whose open-net cages spill effluent into the Macquarie Harbour and have severely impacted the waterway’s oxygen levels and marine life for years.
“Mr Cooke has told a conference in St John, New Brunswick, Canada, that environmental groups are “the enemy” for defending the waterways against depredations of the industry,” says Peter George, NOFF president.
“From fishing industry media reports of Mr Cooke’s comments, they not only appear unhinged but an open declaration of war against community and environmental groups that call out the industry’s horrific practices.”
[Mr Cooke’s comments were reported on the eve of Monday’s second meeting of the Maugean Skate Recovery Team tasked with finding ways to rebuild the waterway’s health and prevent the extinction of the 60-million-year old Maugean skate.]
“Mr Cooke needs to look closer to home to realise why the industry is under attack globally for is destructive practices.
“If Mr Cooke wants war with industry critics, he can have it. We have science, community, a global movement and truth on our side.
“Cooke Aquaculture has been banned in the US state of Washington, paid millions of dollars in fines for breaching regulations in the US, Canada and even in Scotland , and now he’s accusing those of us who speak out of making “unscientific” claims.
“What hypocrisy.
“This is an extraordinary accusation to make in the face of authoritative Australian science that clearly proves the salmon industry is primarily responsible for the damage to Macquarie Harbour and its marine life.”
Mr Cooke’s comments were made at a conference in New Brunswick, Canada, at which he urged wild fisheries to work together against a “common enemy” – environmental groups.
Media release – Marine Conservation Society and Humane Society International Australia, 9 October 2023
Cancel Macquarie Harbour salmon licences to save endangered Maugean skate
Environment organisations have called on Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to not renew fish farm licences for Macquarie Harbour when they expire this year to give the endangered Maugean skate a chance of survival in its only home.
Tasmania’s Maugean skate could become the world’s first ray or shark to become extinct in modern times as a direct result of human activity unless drastic action is taken, with scientists fearing it could become extinct within 10 years or wiped out in just one extreme weather event. After intense coastal storms in 2019, the population was cut in half to about 1500 individuals.[1]
The Maugean skate – part of the group of cartilaginous fishes that includes sharks and rays – lives solely in Macquarie Harbour on the remote west coast of Tasmania but it is being starved of the oxygen it needs to survive. The oxygen levels in Macquarie Harbour have plummeted primarily because of intensive salmon farming requires oxygen to break down fish feed and fish waste.[2]
The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), legal advisors to the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International (HSI) Australia, has written to EPA Director Wes Ford, asking him to use his powers under the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 to refuse renewal of the 10 licences for fish farming in Macquarie Harbour when they expire on November 30. Under the Act, the Director may renew an environmental licence where satisfied it is appropriate to do so. The Director may refuse a licence, for example, where salmon companies have breached conditions of their licences, or committed other offences under the Act, or otherwise where “unacceptable environmental impacts of the activity which have emerged or been identified since the licence was first granted.”[3]
The EDO has lodged a Right to Information request on behalf of AMCS and HSI, asking the EPA to hand over documents including infringement notices issued to the three fish farm operators in Macquarie Harbour – Tassal, Huon Aquaculture and Petuna – or other breaches, as well as details about salmon production tonnage, significant fish escapes, mass fish stock deaths and disease outbreaks.
AMCS shark scientist Dr Leonardo Guida said: “The Maugean skate has been around since Tyrannosaurus rex but is now fighting for its very existence, literally choking to death in Macquarie Harbour, because of salmon farming depleting the oxygen the skate needs to survive.
“The salmon fish farms must go from Macquarie Harbour, but if the EPA chooses to renew the licences in November, then it must be transparent and immediately hand over information about the environmental damages the fish farms have caused, including breaches of conditions and infringement notices as well as fish escapes, deaths and disease. If the EPA does not hand over this information, then what has it to hide? It’s not just the Maugean skate’s existence that’s at stake here but the broader ‘clean and green’ reputation of Tasmanian produce.”
HSI marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck said: “This is an extinction emergency. The Maugean skate must be listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ and given every chance to survive.
“Tasmania is home to Australia’s most infamous extinction, that of the thylacine or Tasmanian tiger. Does the state really want the ignominy of hosting the modern-world’s first extinction of a shark or ray directly because of human activity?”
EDO Managing Lawyer Claire Bookless said: “The recent Conservation Advice from the federal government makes it clear that the key threat to the skate’s survival is poor water quality in Macquarie Harbour and that the primary cause is fish farming. The EPA has the power to refuse a renewal where unacceptable environmental impacts have been identified since the licence was first granted.
“The science is clear. Salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour is causing permanent damage to ecosystems and marine life including the ancient Maugean skate. We urge the EPA Director to make the necessary decision to prioritise the future of the skate and not renew these fish farm licences on 30 November.”
[1] Moreno D & Semmens J (2023) Interim report – Macquarie Harbour Maugean skate population status and monitoring, The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania.
[2] “The primary threat to the species is degraded water quality, in particular substantially reduced levels of dissolved oxygen throughout Macquarie Harbour. There is a significant correlation between the reduction in dissolved oxygen levels and increases in salmonid aquaculture due to the bacterial degradation of organic material introduced into the water column from fish-feed and fish-waste.”
DCCEEW (2023) Conservation Advice for Zearaja Maugeana (Maugean Skate). Australia: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water.
[3] The clause notes for the Finfish Farming Environmental Regulation Bill 2017 relating to the proposed section 42T(5) of the Act makes it clear that subsection (5) was included to provide the EPA Director with broad discretion to refuse to renew an environmental licence and may include grounds relating to the “unacceptable environmental impacts of the activity which have emerged or been identified since the licence was first granted.”