Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens’ Marine Environment spokesperson
Petuna is using the same secretive approval processes and toothless regulations to guide its massive sea-grab of 4.3 million square metres of public waters in Storm Bay that have led to the damage of Macquarie Harbour.
Petunia’s proposed marine farming zone off Betsey Island will complete a plastic curtain around Storm Bay, stretching from Tassal’s leases west of Wedge Island to Huon Aquaculture’s leases running along the east coast of North Bruny.
Petuna, like Tassal and Huon Aquaculture, have decided on their own sea areas, developed their own farming plans, and are conducting their own consultation processes across the busy Christmas period.
The Hodgman Government must explain to Tasmanians why a private company is allowed to write its own expansion plan that will be given the force of law, contained in a Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment document.
The damage to World Heritage Area values in Macquarie Harbour is because the Liberal's broken regulatory system does not listen to independent science, is reactive, and never puts the interests of the environment ahead of business.
Salmon companies are leapfrogging into Storm Bay and Okehampton Bay because there is no future for intensive fish farming in the west. They are doomed to repeat the environmental damage and social division in the south of the state unless there is a formal legal process for community and scientists to consider the impacts of industrial salmon farming on the marine environment, and on other users of our shared waterways. Coastal communities, recreational and commercial fishers, boating, and tourism operators are all locked out of this titanic transfer of public seascape to private companies.
There is only one future for a sustainable salmon industry, and that's on land and far offshore. The Liberal Government, with support from Labor, needs to call a moratorium on fish farm expansion into Storm Bay, and give all stakeholders a real say about this huge sea-grab.