Tasman Peninsula Marine Protection, 17 December 2023
EPA SELLS OUT TASMAN PENINSULA TO TASSAL
EPA Director, Wes Ford, has sold out residents of the Tasman Peninsula by renewing industrial Atlantic salmon operations for another two years in Long Bay, next to World Heritage site, Port Arthur.
Mr Ford has completely ignored well-documented science and community objections by the Tasman Peninsula Marine Protection (TPMP) and the Tasmanian Independent Science Council (TISC) citing the destructive impacts of Tassal feedlots in Long Bay well beyond the permitted limits.
“Under no circumstances could a truly independent EPA have permitted this damaging industry to continue polluting our precious and vulnerable waterway,” says Trish Baily of TPMP.
“Tasmanians should expect the EPA to be the guardian of our marine ecology while instead it bows to the demands of foreign-owned corporations whose only contribution to the state is industrial devastation.”
TISC has already reported that Atlantic salmon industry effluent equivalent to 25,000 people is being discharged into Long Bay which has no flush-through with consequent algal growths along with destruction of sea grasses and other marine life.
The peninsula’s population is just shy of 2,500.
Last year more than 1,300 people signed a petition calling for an end to Atlantic salmon production in Long Bay.
“This decision to renew licences is far from the end of the matter,” says Ms Baily. “Politicians who support the decision will pay the price in the looming state elections next year.”
Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 17 December 2023
Tasmanian waterways condemned to more years of salmon pollution
Communities through the south east of Tasmania have reacted with horror at the renewal of industrial salmon licences in the face of clear scientific evidence of the damage they do to the state’s waterways.
The announcements were buried away on a Friday to make sure they escaped the immediate attention of the media and the communities affected.
Incredibly, the D’Entrecasteaux Channel has been condemned to another five destructive years by Tassal’s huge feedlots that have devastated the marine life of an iconic Australian waterway.
Tassal has also been granted another two-year licence in Long Bay, close to the World Heritage site of Port Arthur, despite clear and independent scientific evidence of its destructive impact on the waterway.
NOFF is committed to legally challenging the decisions to renew the licences along with the renewals for industrial salmon operations in Macquarie Harbour where scientific advisers to the Federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, have urged an end to the industry to protect the waterway and the endangered Maugean skate.
“Tasmanians have every right to expect EPA director, Wes Ford, to stand up for them and for the island’s marine heritage,” says NOFF president, Peter George.
“As a supposedly independent regulator, Mr Ford is supposed to defend us from the ravages of foreign-owned salmon barons and their political friends but instead he caves in to them year after year.
“No right-minded person can have faith in the EPA or its director when decisions like this are made in the face of clear community opposition and scientific evidence. It is a disgrace.”
The only-going major die-off of Atlantic salmon in Tassal’s Okehampton Bay leases as the marine heatwave hits the east coast should have been a stark warning to Mr Ford that his decisions will only bring more environmental destruction and increasing issues of animal welfare in a clearly unsustainable industry.
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 15 December 2023
Thousands of dead salmon beyond doubt after more images captured at Okehampton Bay industrial fish farms
Today, more footage has been captured of dead salmon being pumped into bins at Okehampton Bay near Triabunna.
This comes two days after news of these salmon deaths was first broken to the public.
“The suffering and death of farmed salmon continues unabated at the industrial fish farms at Okehampton Bay,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.
“With the EPA now confirming that Tassal first reported a die-off event on 28 November, it is now certain that thousands and thousands of salmon have died in these factory farms of the sea.”
“Tassal has tried hard to not allow images of this horrible event to get out, and even stopping work when we are on the scene, but they can’t hide the truth from the public”
“Mass deaths like these are the reason why fish farms should never have been allowed in Okehampton Bay and why they should be shut down permanently.”
Mark Thomas Cantwell
December 18, 2023 at 16:35
It’s about time we grew courageous, and stuck it up Big Business. It thinks it knows everything, but it’s simply guided by over-educated pen pushers.
I hate Atlantic salmon with a passion, so I hope they all rot.
Ben Marshall
December 19, 2023 at 10:01
Many of us wonder what the EPA (Every Project Approved) actually does, other than to wave every project through no matter how environmentally destructive it is.
I think I can explain. The EPA exists to ensure that any industrial environmental destruction is Best Practice environmental destruction. Not helpful? Okay, so when you look it up on the EPA website, which is like visiting the year 2003, there are some non-binding references to ‘furthering’ things, also ‘ensuring’ things, and ‘advising’. Stroll past that and you come to this:
Also: The EPA is an “integral part of Tasmania’s Resource Management and Planning System and under this legislation the EPA Director (the CEO) is a member of the Board.”
Additionally, “The EPA’s regulators ensure industrial, municipal and community activities adhere to best practice environmental management standards.”
This is the core of it. The EPA does not protect the environment, but rather works with and provide cover for businesses that exploit, degrade and destroy the environment – while ‘ensuring’ it’s done using ‘best practice’.
… You’re welcome.