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.