Today, two brave activists have scaled the JBS/Huon Aquaculture vessel the Ronja Storm and hung a banner reading “FISH FARMS OUT NOW!”. The Ronja Storm is the largest factory fish farming vessel in the world and a symbol of the environmental damage fish farms cause in Lutruwita/Tasmania.

The protest comes off the back of a new CSIRO study that found social license for the factory fish farms in Lutruwita/Tasmania has all but completely collapsed. It also comes off the back of the multinational salmon industry contaminating Lutruwita/Tasmania’s waters and ecosystems with a controversial antibiotic for months and then been forced to stop due to the impact on other wildlife.

Bob Brown Foundation is calling on Premier Rockliff to remove fish farms from Lutruwita/Tasmania’s waters.

“This vessel is a symbol of Lutruwita/Tasmania’s marine destruction. At 116 metres long, this vessel is responsible for pumping fish into the factory farms of death and disease that litter our once pristine waters,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

“These polluting fish farms have driven species to the edge of extinction, they have killed dolphins and seals, and they have smothered the sea floor and ecosystems with algal blooms. It’s time to get fish farms out of Tasmania’s waters for good.”