Following last night’s revelations by Huon Aquaculture on the ABC’s 7.30 Report, Tasmania’s peak environment group is demanding immediate release of government monitoring of licence condition breaches and impacts in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area – information the Hodgman Government has persistently withheld from the Tasmanian public. Environment Tasmania is also calling for an immediate formal inquiry into why EPA boss Wes Ford denied any knowledge of impacts in the World Heritage Area in February.
“Environment Tasmania can reveal that it lodged Right to Information requests back in May 2016 for the information revealed by Huon Aquaculture and had our requests for information on licence condition breaches, fish deaths and changes to licence conditions impacting the World Heritage Area rejected by the Tasmanian Government, with claims the information was ‘commercial in confidence’,” said Laura Kelly, Environment Tasmania
Environment Tasmania has an open appeal with the Tasmanian Ombudsman, arguing that the Government’s failure to release information on its management of Macquarie Harbour constitutes a breach of the public interest defined under the state’s Right to Information Act 2009.
“With Ombudsman reviews of Right to Information rejections on big salmon stalled back to 2015 – the ability for the Tasmanian Government to say that it is democratically governing the biggest fishery companies in Australia is in question. The Hodgman Government’s refusal to release information to the public has protected the largest fisheries company in Australia but put a brick wall in the face of civil society groups attempting to guarantee some oversight of government processes through media debate and legal proceedings.”
“Democratic processes related to big salmon in Tasmania are currently wholly dependent on leaks from Huon Aquaculture,” Ms Kelly said.
Huon’s revelations also raise important questions about who knew what, when, about damage to the World Heritage Area.
“In February Mark Ryan retracted his statement that the dead zone from Tassal’s largest lease extended into the World Heritage Area and EPA boss Wes Ford denied any knowledge of a world heritage dead zone. This was despite the fact that both men received an IMAS presentation last November showing that up to 97 per cent of marine life was dead in the World Heritage Area.”
“Either Mr Ryan and Mr Ford knew the dead zone was in the world heritage area and denied it, or they don’t know where the world heritage area is. At best, this represents an embarrassing failure of governance, at worst, there is a possibility that the public may have been purposely mislead, at a time when Commonwealth officials and Aquaculture Stewardship Council auditors were in Tasmania reviewing Tassal’s operations in Macquarie Harbour.”
This morning, Environment Tasmania submitted a new ‘Right to Information’ request for monitoring data in the World Heritage Area, calling for any correspondence received by government with regards to the dead zone to be made public.
“It’s time for the Tasmanian EPA and Minister Rockliff to come clean on Macquarie Harbour – if they continue to refuse to release information while major companies release these documents to the public, the damage already done to the Tasmanian Government’s reputation by their bungling of Macquarie Harbour will only worsen,” Ms Kelly said.
Macquarie Harbour Timeline
May 2016: Environment Tasmania submits a Right to Information request on licence condition breaches, fish deaths and changes to licence conditions allowing damage in the World Heritage Area.
October, 2016: DPIPWE rejects Environment Tasmania’s Right to Information Request, claiming information on government’s response to damage to the public waterway is “commercial in confidence”.
February 16th, 2017: Tassal CEO, Mark Ryan confirms to ABC journalist, Felicity Ogilvie that the dead zone from Tassal’s Franklin lease extends into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
“There is some of it in the world heritage area.”
February 16th, 2017: EPA Director, Wes Ford, denies any knowledge that Tassal’s dead zone extends into the World Heritage Area.
“They haven’t provided that information to us yet….I’m not aware of that.”
February 17th, 2017: Tassal issues a statement retracting CEO Mark Ryan’s comments, claiming he misspoke.
“Tassal’s monitoring has not recorded any impacts in the WHA [World Heritage Area] from its operations.”
“Mark Ryan’s comments were an error as he misunderstood the question and he apologises for any confusion this may have caused.”
March 14, 2017: Huon Aquaculture confirm that there is a dead zone in the World Heritage Area and this information was presented to all company CEO’s, including Mark Ryan, and the Director of the EPA, Wes Ford, in an IMAS presentation in November last year.
November, 2016: IMAS scientific report presented to Tassal and the EPA in November, 2016. Monitoring Point 39, within the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area;
“the number of species was reduced by 97% and 92% respectively”
March 15, 2017: Environment Tasmania submits an additional ‘Right to Information’ request asking for monitoring data on the World Heritage Area and any correspondence received by government with regards to the dead zone to be made public.
Laura Kelly Strategy Director Environment Tasmania
