Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens' Marine Environment spokesperson
The EPA has found Macquarie Harbour can only support a maximum of 12,000 tonnes of salmon. Tassal will have an extra 4,000 tonnes of salmon in the harbour over the next 12 months.
Instead of forcing Tassal to remove those fish, they’ve been allowed to set up tarps under cages to capture thousands of tonnes of fish faeces.
Minister Rockliff needs to explain to Tasmanians how utilising untested dippers to capture tonnes of salmon excrement in Macquarie Harbour is, “another example of science and technology being used in adaptive management and helping the industry grow sustainably”.*
The Director of the EPA has acknowledged this technique is untested and has risks associated with it.
The Liberals have absolutely no evidence this technique will work and it won’t create perverse and unexpected impacts on the harbour. It is being rolled out before a trial has taken place, with no environment impact assessment.
Dissolved oxygen levels are so low Macquarie Harbour marine life is struggling to breathe, and there’s evidence of damage to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area in breach of state, federal and international laws.
This is not the time to be trialling untested dippers on a fragile marine environment, it is time to enforce the law.
* http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/releases/adaptive_management_continues_to_...