·                  Call for Tassal’s barramundi operations at Cone Bay to be suspended pending full independent investigation 

·                  Tassal’s sea cage expansion proposal, currently before EPA, must be rejected

·                  Tonnes of dead fish quietly shipped to Derby, trucked to Broome and buried at rubbish dump

A mass fish death event, uncovered at Tassal’s barramundi sea cage fish farm operation at Cone Bay, which is still unfolding, has shocked local conservationists and raised fears about its impact on the pristine Kimberley marine environment. Conservation groups Bob Brown Foundation and Environs Kimberley are calling on Western Australia’s Cook government to reject the expansion of the sea cages, which is currently being assessed by the WA EPA and Commonwealth Environment Department. 

“Wherever this industry goes, death and destruction follow. Not content with polluting Tasmania’s wonderful coastlines, now the industrial fish farm companies are set to destroy another of Australia’s iconic coastlines, the Kimberley region,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

“Tasmania knows full well just how little Tassal and Cooke Aquaculture care about the marine environment. This mass fish death in the Kimberley is a harbinger of worse things to come in the Kimberley. They cannot be allowed to expand,” said Alistair Allan.

“The Kimberley’s Buccaneer Archipelago is in the top 4% of the most pristine coastlines in the world. It’s National Heritage listed and in a marine park – it’s the wrong place for industrial fish farming,” said Environs Kimberley Director Martin Pritchard.

The mass fish death at Cone Bay should end any discussion of expanding Tassal’s industrial fish farming operations across thousands of square kilometres in the even more remote and pristine Buccaneer Archipelago and Mayala Marine Park. The expansion proposal is currently under assessment by both the WA EPA and the federal environment department, DCCEEW.

“This mass mortality event is extremely concerning and shows the industry is not fit for such a globally significant marine environment. We’re calling on Premier Roger Cook to publicly acknowledge how significant the Kimberley coast is and rule out the expansion plans by Tassal to industrialise with sea cages.”

“Multinational sea cage operator Tassal, already under huge pressure over its salmon farming operations in Tasmania, must be directed by the WA Government to immediately suspend its operations at Cone Bay, pending a full, independent investigation. No more juvenile barramundi should be taken to Cone Bay, and the existing fish at Cone Bay, if any survive, must be safely and humanely removed. We will be writing urgently to WA Environment Minister Swinbourn, urging him to launch a full, open and independent investigation, suspend current operations at Cone Bay and reject Tassal’s proposed expansion of industrial sea cage fish farming across the Buccaneer Archipelago and Mayala Marine Park,” said Martin Pritchard.