Tanya Plibersek warns of pause to Tas. salmon farming
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has written to the Tasmanian Government warning that salmon farming operations on the west coast could be temporarily paused, amid a push to protect the endangered skate.
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00:00 low oxygen levels and population decline of this critically endangered species.
00:06 Okay, and what's been the reaction then from the salmon industry to this?
00:10 Well, the salmon industry is quite a significant industry within Tasmania.
00:15 There are 11 leases in the harbour owned by Huon Aquaculture, Tassel and Petuna.
00:21 This morning, Salmon Tasmania CEO, Luke Martin, pointed to the fact that, yes,
00:27 climate change is an issue impacting this, the activities of Hydro Tasmania are also impacting this.
00:33 But he really focused on the fact that this would cost jobs on the west coast of Tasmania
00:38 if there was a pause in salmon farming activity.
00:41 It's a big employer in the region and he stressed the fact that this would have
00:47 a negative impact on families and workers in the region.
00:51 He also stressed that it would be economically unviable to continue to lower salmon stock
00:56 in the area since 2017. He said they've already halved the amount of salmon that's being farmed there.
01:03 So it really wasn't realistic to continue to shrink their salmon production there.
01:09 There's also an oxygenation project going on in the area and Martin says that
01:14 they can contribute to that, they can help re-oxygenate the harbour
01:18 without reducing the amount of salmon that's being farmed there.
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