Media Release – Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, 13 February 2026

Greens Statement on Maugean Skate Listing

The Environment Minister’s refusal to up-list the conservation status of the endangered Maugean Skate does not hide the species’ fatal future under the Albanese government’s watch.

“No matter its conservation status, the Maugean Skate remains threatened by the persistent political stupidity of Labor prioritising foreign-owned corporations’ profit over Tassie’s marine environment,” said Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

“The federal government’s own scientific advice clearly states the key threat to the skate’s survival is poor water quality in Macquarie Harbour, and that the primary cause of this is Atlantic salmon farming.

“The best way to give the Maugean Skate a fighting chance of survival is to remove toxic industrial Atlantic salmon farming from the skate’s natural environment.

“Instead of taking the most direct action to protect the Maugean skate, Labor has resorted to a captive breeding program and spent millions of tax payers money on artificially oxygenating Macquarie Harbour.

“These are distractions. Without action to remove Atlantic salmon farming from the Maugean skate’s natural environment, the government appears content to consign the endangered prehistoric species to an aquarium.

“The Environment Minister’s refusal to up-list the conservation status of the endangered Maugean Skate does not hide the species’ fatal future under the Albanese government’s watch.

“The Greens call for full transparency from the Environment Minister on his decision – including any and all updated advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee – given the original advice from 2023 was to up-list the skate to critically endangered.

“The Greens look forward to hearing from the Minister about how captive bred skate will be reintroduced back into a polluted harbour of the salmon industry’s making.

“The real decision the Minister has to make has not changed, and it is a moral one: is it more important to prevent the avoidable extinction of an entire species or protect the profits of foreign-owned salmon companies?”

Statement – Peter George, Independent MP for Franklin, 13 February 2026

Environment Minister Chooses Polluting Industry Over Environment. Again!

Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, has shown once more that protecting the environment and our natural heritage is well down his list of priorities when it comes to pleasing big business.

He’s clearly more suited to be Minister for Industrial Environmental Destruction.

Mr Watt’s decision not to list the clearly critically endangered relic of the dinosaurs, the Maugean Skate, as officially “critically endangered” is a huge favour to multinational industrial salmon industry in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.

His refusal prioritises the profits of rapacious foreign-owned salmon companies over the long-term good of Tasmania’s natural heritage.

By pouring millions of dollars of public money into doomed efforts to revive Macquarie Harbour and rearing baby skate in captivity, the Australian taxpayer is bearing the cost of a doomed process that will simply drive a very rare species further to the edge of extinction after 60 million years.

Mr Watt has manipulated the science at the behest of a coalition of federal and state Labor and Liberal parties captured by the salmon industry lobby.

(JBS, owner of Huon Aquaculture, has proved to be one of the most environmentally rapacious and corrupt multinationals in the world. Cook Aquaculture, which owns Tassal, was ejected from Washington State in the US for lying and regulatory breaches.)

Media Release – Environment Tasmania, 13 February 2026

Salmon Farming Remains the Number One Catastrophic Threat to the Maugean Skate

The official conservation advice for Tasmania’s ancient species, the Maugean Skate, has been released and it remains a call directed by scientists for urgent and critical action.

The updated conservation advice, approved by the Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt and penned by the Australian Government’s own peak scientific advisory body, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, not only confirms the catastrophic impacts of farmed salmon on the Maugean Skate population, but defines it as the only “Almost certain catastrophic threat” far outweighing all other impacts listed as “likely” and “possible”.

The advice is a clear crystallisation of many years of data that brings into sharp focus the need for a serious course of action and should be directed by the Federal Minister Murray Watt.

While the industry is regulated by the state authorities, the federal government has both a responsibility to prevent the extinction and harm to this species through every action possible, and an international obligation to preserve Tasmania’s unique Gondwanan heritage. The Maugean Skate is a listed natural value of the Tasmanian World Wilderness Heritage Area.

“This advice makes is absolutely clear that now, more than two years on from the release of the first publication of conservation advice, and despite millions of taxpayers dollars being thrown at the issue, the advice led by science still remains to remove or significantly reduce salmon farming as the fastest way to remediate the harbour,” Environment Tasmania senior campaigner Jess Coughlan said.

“The Minister himself said today that critical actions still need to be taken to prevent this extinction and the advice clearly states what those actions should be. The only question that remains is will it be done soon enough?”

Media Release – Bob Brown Foundation, 13 February 2026

Maugean Skate Being Mugged by Watt

The Federal Minister for the Environment, Murray Watt, has made a Friday afternoon announcement rejecting previous scientific advice that Tasmania’s unique Maugean skate should be listed as ‘critically endangered’. Watt has sided with the foreign-owned fish pen operators in Macquarie Harbour against local environmental advice that the industry is threatening the skate with imminent extinction, Bob Brown Foundation said today.

In early 2023, the Threatened Species Commissioner, Dr Fiona Fraser, indicated she would recommend the uplisting based on dire population data. Additionally, 30 top marine scientists urged the government to intervene due to a 47% population decline between 2014 and 2021. Rather than remove the toxic fish pens or require the foreign corporations to pay, the Albanese government has spent nearly $40 million of taxpayers’ money trying to offset the problem.

“There is great scientific uncertainty about the Maugean Skate’s future and, in such cases, Watt’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act requires him to observe the precautionary principle to err on the side of wildlife safety which clearly he has ignored,” Bob Brown said.

“This is another case in the almost unbroken line of Watt, as environment minister, siding with short-term corporate interest against long-term environmental wellbeing.”

Bob Brown Foundation Marine and Antarctic campaigner Alistair Allan said: “The Albanese government at every step of this environmental crisis has sided with the big corporations and protected the fish farm companies instead of a unique Australian animal, the Maugean Skate. It is a disgraceful decision to not uplist this ancient species to a critically endangered species. Anthony Albanese and Federal Labor have all but ensured that it will become critically endangered, but they now refuse to acknowledge it.”

Interim Report: Macquarie Harbour Maugean Skate Population Status & Monitoring