Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 11 March 2023
Bruny Islanders call on Federal Environment minister to intervene
A community meeting that drew more than 100 people on Bruny Island today called on the Federal Environment minister, Tanya Plibersek to intervene in the controversy over industrial salmon feedlots around the island.
The motion, carried unanimously and to loud applause, called on the Federal Environment minister to declare salmon feedlots a threat to Bruny Island as a biodiversity hotspot.
To a standing room only community hall at Dennes Point on North Bruny, Nova Scotian Geoff Leboutillier warned the new Canadian owner of Tassal, Cooke Aquaculture, had caused extensive damage to the marine environment on the Canadian east coast.
He said he was encouraged to visit Tasmania and find a statewide resistance movement to industrial salmon production that recognised Cooke was not a good corporate citizen wherever it operated in the world.
The meeting was also addressed by actor Essie Davis, a Bruny Island resident, author Richard Flanagan, Killora Community Association’s Gerard Castles and Neighbours of Fish Farming president, Peter George.
Essie Davis said to loud applause: “The salmon farmers need to get out of the sea and on to land and if they’re not prepared to do that, they need to get out of Tasmania.”
Gerard Castles said: “Direct action is inevitable if the government doesn’t adopt the Dennes Point Declaration”, that was signed in 2021 calls for a real moratorium on new leases, a move to land-based production and science-led regulation.
