Media release – Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water, 30 November 2023

Consultation on salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will soon begin consultation about salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.

This consultation is required as a result of applications made under Australia’s national environment laws by three groups, who argue that salmon farming is having an unacceptable impact on the Maugean skate, an endangered fish.

The national environment laws, which require these applications to be considered, were passed by John Howard and the Liberal Party in 2000.

The consultation will be broad. It will mean workers and their union, the salmon industry, communities, environment groups, scientists, as well as state and local governments will have a chance to have their say.

There will be an opportunity to consider:

  • Work of the joint Tasmanian and Federal Government Maugean Skate Recovery Team
  • Any decision of the Tasmanian Government’s Environment Protection Agency about the extension of salmon farming licences
  • The Conservation Advice for the Maugean Skate (Zearaja maugeana)
  • Community views
  • Any other relevant matters

Consultation will run from 4 December 2023 to 2 February 2024.

After the consultation period ends, the department will take some time to carefully consider the information received.

Salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour does not have to pause while this occurs.

Aquaculture licences and environmental regulations of Macquarie Harbour are primarily the responsibility of the Tasmanian Government.

When the consultation opens, further details about how people can have their say will be available on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s website at: https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/epbc-macquarie-harbour

Media release – Environment Protection Authority (EPA), 30 November 2023

Finfish Marine Environmental Licence Renewals – Macquarie Harbour

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) currently regulates finfish farming at 10 marine farming leases in the Macquarie Harbour region. The current environmental licences for these leases expire on 30 November 2023.

After due consideration and in accordance with the requirements of the legislation the Director, EPA has decided to renew the environmental licences for all marine finfish farming leases within Macquarie Harbour for a 2-year period.

The Director will provide a statement of reasons to support his decision on the EPA website within 14 days. A document outlining matters considered under S42(T)(5) has been published on the EPA website at Macquarie Harbour | EPA Tasmania

In renewing the environmental licences, the Director also considered the need to set water quality interim default guideline values (DGVs) for the protection of aquatic ecosystems in accordance with the National Water Quality Management Strategy.

The interim DGVs will be used as a measure of success for maintaining and improving water quality in Macquarie Harbour by restoring dissolved oxygen levels to sustain a viable level of ecosystem health and support the recovery of the Maugean skate.

Along with the existing conditions already imposed by the previous environmental licences, additional conditions have been included. These new conditions require the environmental licence holder to: –

  • Submit a Dissolved Oxygen Consumption Report, for the Director’s approval, that includes calculations of the dissolved oxygen demand of finfish farmed at the marine farming lease.
  • Submit a Dissolved Oxygen Mitigation Plan, for the Director’s approval, that outlines measures to offset or reduce the estimated dissolved oxygen demand resulting from the activity, and
  • Submit a Water Quality Monitoring Plan, for the Director’s approval, that outlines a monitoring program designed to measure success of the dissolved oxygen mitigation measures on water quality at and beyond the lease boundary and to demonstrate how the measures are going to work towards meeting the interim DGVs for water quality.

For further details regarding environmental licence conditions, including copies of environmental licences can be accessed from tomorrow via the EPA Regulated Premises layer on LISTmap

Decisions regarding the environmental licences for other regions of Tasmania will be released in the coming weeks at Marine Environmental Licence Renewals | EPA Tasmania.

Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 30 November 2023

Federal Environment Minister moves On Maugean skate But Small steps towards averting extinction are Not enough

That the Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, has accepted her clear legal obligation to review industrial salmon operations in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour is welcome but is not enough to deal with the clear and present danger of extinction of the Maugean skate.

NOFF president, Peter George, says the science makes clear that salmon operations in the waterway should be halted before summer.

“Marine scientists have made it abundantly clear the 60-million-year-old Maugean skate may not last one more catastrophic event – and that may well be the expected marine heatwave this summer,” he says.

“The minister herself has warned “urgent action must be taken” but a long, drawn out consultation is hardly urgent action.

“The salmon industry will no doubt publicly bemoan the review decision but will be secretly relieved it can go on destroying the skate’s habitat while bureaucratic processes slowly roll along.

“What a Christmas present at a major marketing time of the year.”

The announcement comes on the same day salmon licences to operate in Tasmanian coastal waters expire.

“The responsibility is in the state government’s court to act now and act with integrity by refusing to licence further operations in Macquarie Harbour but, captured as it is by the salmon industry, it’s hard to put faith in a government that does nothing but enable this destructive industry.”

NOFF advocates the ending of salmon industry licences to operate in public waters or – at the very least – putting the industry on notice that a transition out of state waters must start before licences are finally ended.

Media release – The Australia Institute, 30 November 2023

Response to Government Review of Salmon Farming in Macquarie Harbour

The Australia Institute welcomes confirmation of the review of the 2012 EPBC Act decision that allowed large-scale fish farming in Macquarie Harbour. This follows two letters from the Australia Institute to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water in June and July that triggered the review.

However, the decision to not pause salmon farming in the region, contrary to direction from the Commonwealth Conservation advice, represents a major setback for the health of the Macquarie Harbour and the endangered Maugean Skate.

‘This review is welcome and necessary. However, it is disappointing that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is acting inconsistently with her own Department’s advice. The advice identified urgent actions that should be implemented prior to summer 2023 to ensure the species does not go extinct. Eliminating or significantly reducing the impacts of salmon farming on dissolved oxygen concentrations is the top priority and the fastest and simplest way to achieve this is by significantly reducing fish biomass,’ said Eloise Carr, director of the Australia Institute Tasmania.

‘Minister Plibersek previously flagged a temporary halt to fish farming during the reconsideration process. That approach would be consistent with her department’s advice. This approach is not.

‘The Minister is now passing the buck on her responsibilities to Tasmanian regulators to decide. They have the same scientific evidence in front of them and licenses are due for renewal today.”

Government Decisions Look Set to Send Maugean Skate Towards Extinction

The Australia Institute has today condemned the decision by the Tasmanian EPA to renew fish farming in the Macquarie Harbour.

The decision comes just hours after the announcement of a review of salmon farming in the Macquarie Harbour by the Federal Government, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

However, the Federal Government’s decision not to pause salmon farming in the region is contrary to direction from the Commonwealth Conservation Advice and represents a major setback for the health of Macquarie Harbour and the skate.

Today’s announcements follow letters from the Australia Institute to both Tasmanian and Australian governments laying out the new scientific evidence of the impacts of fish farming on water quality and the endangered Maugean skate.

“The Australia Institute condemns the EPA’s decision to renew fish farming licences in Macquarie Harbour ahead of a forecast hot summer. This decision looks set to send the Maugean skate towards extinction,’ said Eloise Carr, Director of the Australia Institute Tasmania.

“The EPA is yet to provide their reasoning. But the available information about today’s decision includes details of non-compliance with previous licence conditions. In one survey, 36% of sites in 6 out of 10 leases were not compliant. There are numerous non-compliances throughout the last licence period. Over the last 5 years, only two surveys found that sites and leases fully complied with licence conditions. This alone is enough to refuse renewal.

“This decision raises serious questions about the undue influence of this industry.

“The Federal Government’s review is welcome and necessary. However, it is disappointing that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is acting inconsistently with her own Department’s advice. The advice identified urgent actions that should be implemented prior to summer 2023 to ensure the species does not go extinct. The advice also identified eliminating or significantly reducing the impacts of salmon farming on dissolved oxygen concentrations as the top priority and the fastest and simplest way to achieve this is by significantly reducing fish biomass.

“Minister Plibersek previously flagged a temporary halt to fish farming during the reconsideration process. That approach would be consistent with her department’s advice. This approach is not.”

Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Leader, 30 November 2023

Plibersek Must Act Now to Save Skate

Today’s decision by Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to reconsider the future of industrial fish farming in Macquarie Harbour is vindication for environmentalists who have been raising their deep concerns about the critically endangered Maugean skate. However, without immediate action this unique species remains at increased risk of extinction in the coming months as waters warm and oxygen levels drop further.

The Greens, scientists, and environmental groups have for years sounded the alarm about the potential for fish farms in Macquarie Harbour to push the Maugean skate into extinction. The response from both Liberal and Labor politicians has for too long been to simply cheer even louder for the multi-billion dollar corporations who run this industry.

While the industry is working overtime in the media trying to mislead the public about the scientific evidence, the scientific experts who have been studying the decline of this endangered species are very clear that fish farming is the primary risk to its survival.

Having the federal Environment Minister admit that the future of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour needs to be reviewed is a start, but this acknowledgment will be meaningless if the Minister doesn’t act now.

It’s no exaggeration to say that what Tanya Plibersek does next will have a huge impact on the chances of this species avoiding extinction. Minister Plibersek needs to stop gambling with the future of this critically endangered species, and start taking the concrete steps needed to ensure its survival.

Peter Whish-Wilson | Greens Senator for Tasmani

The writing has been on the wall for industrial salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour for some time.

Consultation on protecting the Maugean skate should’ve happened years ago but successive federal governments have refused to step in and protect the species.

Science has identified Macquarie Harbour as naturally low in dissolved oxygen, made worse by industrial salmon farming.

This makes it an unsuitable place for salmon farming.

We now have a critical moral and political decision to make – is it more important to prevent the avoidable extinction of a species or protect the profits of foreign-owned salmon companies?

The Maugean skate is found only in one place on earth, how sad is it that we are looking at removing the ancient skate from its only known home to allow the farming of an introduced species – Atlantic salmon.

The skate belongs in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast, and Atlantic salmon belong in the Atlantic.

There’s no time to waste.

While consultation is great it won’t protect the skate this summer.

Scientists tell us the Maugean skate is one extreme weather event away from extinction and given predictions for marine heatwaves this summer I urge Minister Plibersek to follow her own departments scientific advice and remove introduced Atlantic salmon from the skate’s natural environment.


Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 30 November 2023

Tasmanian Government renews Macquarie Harbour salmon leases as Federal Environment Minister calls for a consultation period

Today’s announcement from Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek of a 60-day consultation to review salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour is a further delay when urgent action is needed.

“Tanya Plibersek made a promise of no new extinctions on her watch but she is essentially ensuring one by allowing salmon farming to continue in Macquarie Harbour over summer,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

“The science is certain. Fish farms must be removed or significantly reduced to give the Maugean skate any chance of survival.”

The consultation announcement comes as the Tasmanian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decides to renew salmon farm leases in Macquarie Harbour, which is a death sentence for the Maugean skate. The renewed licenses have new conditions attached to them, but are meaningless in the face of an extinction crisis.

“The EPA’s decision to renew salmon farming licenses in Macquarie Harbour shows that our EPA is not independent and instead does the bidding of its political overlords. No environmental agency in its right mind could approve licenses that come with an extinction risk to an endangered species,” Alistair Allan said.

“The EPA must justify this decision to the Tasmanian public. What scientific evidence was used to determine that these leases should be approved again? Premier Rockliff and the Tasmanian Government have knowingly and recklessly handed down a death sentence for the Maugean skate.”

Media release – Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP), 30 November 2023

Salmon licence renewals: disappointing

The Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (TAMP) has called on the Tasmanian EPA to immediately reveal its reasons for renewing licences for industrial salmon companies to continue operating in Macquarie Harbour.

Licences expired today and were immediately renews ignoring the majority of Tasmanians who now oppose the industry operating in shallow, vulnerable coastal waters.

TAMP is deeply concerned that the same decisions have been made for other waterways such Long Bay (Port Arthur), the D’Entrecastreaux Channel, Huon River and Storm Bay.

Licences for salmon hatcheries that spew effluent into freshwater rivers, including hatcheries on rivers feeding Hobart’s drinking water catchment, have already been quietly renewed.

“It is disappointing that the supposed independent EPA and the government have not engaged in open, honest and transparent dialogue with community directly affected by the industry.

“It appears the multinational salmon company owners continue to benefit from their cosy relationship with the State government,“ says Trish Baily – TAMP Vice-President.

Meanwhile, TAMP says the Federal Environment Minister’s decision to review the science that permitted salmon industry expansion in Macquarie Harbour is a small but insufficient step that does not reflect the minister’s admission that the Maugean skate is in ‘urgent’ need of protection.

“The science is clear, the impact of the industry on Macquarie Harbour is clear and the urgency to remove salmon from the Harbour is clear. We need action now before extinction becomes inevitable.”

An adverse decision by Tanya Plibersek will reflect badly on Tasmania’s global reputation and its ‘Clean Green branding’.”

Media release – Australian Marine Conservation Society and Humane Society International Australia, 1 December 2023

Does Tasmania really want another thylacine on its hands?

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has to do everything in her ministerial powers to prevent the extinction of the Maugean skate, including the review announced into salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour, the skate’s only home, according to environment groups.

Ms Plibersek yesterday announced public consultation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour after a request was made by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), acting for the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International (HSI) Australia.

The review is a critical step towards addressing the “catastrophic” risk of salmon farming on the endangered Maugean skate, especially after the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority yesterday renewed the Macquarie Harbour salmon farming licences for two years. Any delays in removing salmon from the harbour contradicts the federal environment department’s independent conservation advice, which said the key threat to the skate was poor water quality in Macquarie Harbour, primarily caused by fish farming.

The advice recommended to “eliminate or significantly reduce the impacts of salmonid aquaculture on dissolved oxygen concentrations” before this summer, which starts today.

AMCS shark scientist Dr Leonardo Guida said: “Progress is being made to save the skate, but it’s too slow. The necessary actions to avert extinction have long been known; the writing has been on the wall for so long that the paint is peeling and the wall crumbling. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek must not delay further on removing salmon from the harbour and honouring the very nature laws that are supposed to benefit human and environmental health.

“It’s not just the skate’s existence at risk; it’s also Tasmania’s reputation for ‘clean and green’ food and drink that Australians and the world prize. We could be looking at the world’s first instance of aquaculture directly causing an extinction, which begs the question: What does the future of Tasmania’s primary industries look like when it has caused another Tassie tiger?”

HSI marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck said: “This is truly an extinction emergency, and we are running out of time. Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek needs a ‘no regrets’ approach if the government wants to stay true to its promise of no new extinctions under its watch. If we fail to act, we will thoroughly regret the moment we lost a species forever.”

EDO Managing Lawyer Kirstiana Ward said: “The 2012 decision permitting the expansion of salmon farming contained conditions to protect the Maugean skate. Current science has identified a severe decline in the Maugean skate, which shows the conditions in the decision have failed to protect the species as intended at that time. It is appropriate for Minister Pibersek to use her power under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to reconsider the 2012 decision to provide effective protections under federal laws to prevent extinction.”

In September, the EDO wrote to the environment minister on behalf of AMCS and HSI to review the 2012 decision to expand fish farming in Macquarie Harbour, citing the overwhelming body of scientific evidence indicating salmon farming’s significant negative impacts on the skate’s existence, the World Heritage Area of Macquarie Harbour, and the overall poor health of the harbour. The public can make submissions to the review until February 4.

Dr Guida said: “This is a really important opportunity for Australians over the summer break to think about the impacts of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour, particularly considering it is one of our most popular table fish.”

Tasmania’s Maugean skate could become the world’s first ray or shark to go extinct in modern times as a direct result of human activity unless drastic action is taken. Scientists fear 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.

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 intensive salmon farming requires oxygen to break down fish feed and fish waste.