Today, Bob Brown Foundation has held national protests at 10 different Woolworths stores, calling on the supermarket to stop selling Tasmanian farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour. Due to its massive environmental impact, farmed salmon and ocean trout from Macquarie Harbour is responsible for pushing the Maugean Skate to the edge of extinction.

The protests come one day before the Woolworths Annual General Meeting, where a shareholder resolution to cease procuring salmon from Macquarie Harbour will be voted on by shareholders.

Bob Brown Foundation is demanding Woolworths immediately stop driving the Maugean Skate to extinction and remove all Tasmanian farmed salmon from their shelves.

“Woolworths is directly involved in causing the extinction of the Maugean Skate,“ said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

“We have met with the company, and they are completely informed on the impact that toxic farmed salmon is having in Macquarie Harbour, yet they are choosing to keep selling it. This is like Woolworths selling shark fins or rhino horn – Tasmanian salmon is causing an extinction and Woolworths must remove it from their shelves.”

“In Sydney alone, we had hundreds of people stop and be shocked to learn that farmed salmon in Tasmania is causing an extinction. What is appalling is that as a consumer, if you buy Tasmanian farmed salmon, there is no way for you to know whether or not you are also contributing to the extinction of a species because there is no information on the product about where your salmon comes from.”

“Industrial fish farms in Macquarie Harbour have been deemed a catastrophic impact on the Maugean Skate’s chances of survival. They need to be removed from the harbour and Woolworths needs to stop being complicit in the extinction of a species,” said Alistair Allan.