Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 12 August 2024

NOFF calls for salmon regulations to be overturned

Cites lack of transparency and accountability among concerns

Tasmanian coastal communities back parliamentary moves to overturn thoroughly inadequate industrial salmon farming regulations.

NOFF has written to all members of the Legislative Assembly supporting a motion by MLC, Meg Webb (Tuesday, August 13) to disallow the Environment Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming, published in October 2023.

The standards signally fail to adequately protect public waterways, marine life and coastal communities from the ravages of industrial salmon production, lack transparency and accountability and provide far much discretion to the EPA director, a body subjected to consistent political and industry pressure.

“The government bends over backwards to protect the foreign-owned salmon companies from scrutiny and regulatory control,” says Peter George, NOFF president. “Meg Webb stands up for Tasmanians and Tasmania’s marine heritage and we thank her.”

NOFF urges MLCs to support the motion, writing:

“When you enter the debate tomorrow, know that you have the support of ordinary Tasmanians, 72% of whom are now showing real concern that salmon farming is a problem in Tasmania’s inshore waterways [while] three in four Tasmanians are concerned with the health of our coastal environment and seven in ten back a reduction in inshore salmon farming.”

The full letter is attached.

The Hon. [NAME] MLC

Parliament House

Hobart

Dear [title, name]

We write on behalf of the members and supporters of Neighbours of Fish Farming, in support of the motion to disallow the Environment Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming as they were published in October 2023.

The Tasmanian Government has stated that the goal of the Standards is to protect the environment, increase transparency and ensure the long term sustainability of the fish farms. In fact, when implemented, the Standards will not achieve these goals.

While we appreciate the creation of a new standard, the document does not adequately address the issues raised by the 2022 Legislative Council Fin Fish Inquiry, which thoroughly documented concerns with operations and environmental management, as well as flawed management and regulatory practice. Public submissions during the draft stages of the Standards also offered many recommendations for improvement, however these have largely been ignored.

The most obvious issues with the new Standards are:

·       Current substandard operations may be able to be maintained in existing leases, with no mandatory adoption of new standards except for new leases (for example, separation distance between base of net and sea floor).

·       Lack of independent monitoring and timely, regular, detailed reporting with particular regard to antibiotic use, fin fish escapes, and mortalities.

·       The EPA Director has too much discretionary power to make key decisions without public consultation or awareness, in particular the sole power to decide if and when to consult experts, and there is no requirement for publication of details of these experts.

·       Major public and environmental concerns have not been addressed, including the use of shallow and protected bays for marine net pens, the continued operation of flow through hatcheries in freshwater systems, and the noise and light pollution from land-based operations within earshot of private residences and coastal communities.

We support the recommendations made by independent experts who have identified failures in the Standards to meet recognised best practices:

·       Too much discretion is given to the EPA Director

·       The Standards are insufficiently transparent and do not provide accountability

·       Regulation of stocking and production is inadequate

·       Baseline Environmental Assessments and Broadscale Environmental Monitoring Programs are not fit for purpose

·       Therapeutant management is deficient

·       Light attenuation and noise management fail to consider wildlife, and there are significant inconsistencies between how each are managed

·       Public reporting of mortalities and escapes is not obligatory

·       Deferred Technical Standards mean uncertain ecological standards and environmental monitoring

·       Seabed clearance of net pens is not enough

 When you enter the debate tomorrow, know that you have the support of ordinary Tasmanians, 72% of whom are now showing real concern that salmon farming is a problem in Tasmania’s inshore waterways, according to Australia Institute polling.

“Three in four Tasmanians are concerned with the health of our coastal environment and seven in ten back a reduction in inshore salmon farming.”

Kind regards,

[signed]

Jessica Coughlan

Campaigner

Neighbours of Fish Farming

Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 13 August 2024

Finfish environmental standards useless if they allow extinctions and pollution.

Today, the Legislative Council will be debating a motion, put forward by Meg Webb MLC, to disallow the Environmental Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming 2023.

The Environmental Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming 2023 have been in effect since October 18, 2023 and do very little to address the impacts of industrial salmon farming in Tasmania’s waters

Bob Brown Foundation is calling on all members of the Legislative Council to support the motion, based on the fact that the Environmental Standards are wholly inadequate and, if passed, will be in place for 10 years.

“The Environmental Standards do nothing to protect Tasmania’s marine environment. There are no standards if they allow these mega-corporations to push a species to the edge of extinction without running afoul of the state law,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

“Seals can still be bombed and shot, native birds can be culled, algal blooms can shut beaches, antibiotics can be dumped in the sea and tonnes of fish effluent can pollute our waterways under these so-called standards.”

“The Legislative Council members have a duty to their constituents, who enjoy our public waters, whether they are surfers, recreational fishers and divers, or simply the huge majority of Tasmanians who love our coasts, to support this motion. They must represent those who elected them and not foreign mega corporations set on destroying Tasmania’s marine environment.”

“If members vote against this motion, they are openly endorsing the potential extinction of the Maugean Skate, and they are selling out our precious waters ways to the industrial factory farms of the sea,” said Alistair Allan.