Tasmania’s fragile, unique marine waters are officially dominated by the profit imperative of foreign owned mega corporations. The purchase of Tassal by Canadian seafood giant, Cooke is another tragedy for Tasmania's environment, and ultimately for Tassal's workers.
Cooke is an atrocious corporate citizen that has been found guilty and fined for:
- Fish farm collapse and mass salmon escape
- Poisoning hundreds of lobsters from illegal pesticides smuggled into Canada
- Overstocking salmon pens
- Failing to follow regulations, including for environmental testing and reporting
Cooke is a company with scant regard for the law that will run roughshod through Tasmanian waters in a way we've never seen before. Our weak-kneed and government-bound EPA is no match for this corporate steamroller from Canada.
Our precious waters are already suffering from the unbridled growth of the fin fish industry. The Huon Estuary, Macquarie Harbour, the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and bays of the Tasman Peninsula are all heavily impacted from this toxic industry.
The Rockliff Government have committed to doubling the size of the foreign-owned fin fish industry, and they now have the artillery to realise that nightmare for Tasmania's northern and southern waterways.
Along with Brazilian behemoth JBS, Cooke will sack and ravage our coastlines, and they’ll ultimately move on when there is nothing left to pillage.
With no State of the Environment report apparent, and overwhelming evidence of the environmental degradation caused by the salmon industry, the Rockliff government must enforce a moratorium on growth for this toxic foreign-owned industry before it's too late.