Latest news with #Maugeanskate
The Advertiser
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Salmon farms green lit, but conservation fight not over
An endangered fish has had the "final nail" in its coffin driven by the federal government after it gave the green light for ongoing salmon farming in a remote harbour. That's the view of environmentalists who have vowed to maintain their legal fight against aquaculture in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour. It was revealed on Thursday Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt had ended a reconsideration of aquaculture approvals in the harbour, based on new national laws. "(The) decision allows for the continuation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour," he said. The reconsideration process was sparked in late 2023 by conservation groups, who argue salmon farming needs to stop to safeguard the endangered Maugean skate. It is estimated there are 40-120 adult skate in the harbour, the species' only home, with salmon farming and hydro flows among factors contributing to their decline. Mr Watt spruiked $18.3 million for an artificial pumping program designed to replace oxygen in the water consumed by salmon farming. The federal government's decision was based on "all relevant information", Mr Watt said. The decision was possible after law changes removed the minister's ability to reconsider previous decisions if they had been ongoing for at least five years. Critics argued the laws, passed in March before the May election, were rushed. Mr Watt's decision on Macquarie Harbour came a week before a Bob Brown Foundation challenge to the laws was set to be heard in the Federal Court. Foundation campaigner Alistair Allan accused the federal government of driving the final nail in the coffin of the skate. He said next week's Federal Court action was now dead, but fresh legal action would be launched based on the grounds the law doesn't apply to industrial fish farming in the harbour "It is a disgrace that a species that was identified by the Albanese government as a priority threatened species in 2022 has been purposely abandoned by 2025," Mr Allan said. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the decision provided certainty for the 400-plus workers who depended on aquaculture in the harbour. There had been a body of new information showing improvements in the harbour's health since 2023, Salmon Tasmania CEO John Whittington said. A University of Tasmania study published in February found there had been a significant decline in the skate's abundance from 2014-2022, but numbers had risen since. Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the federal government of dodging accountability with the timing of their decision. "The only reason this decision has been made by the minister now is to scuttle the Federal Court case. The Albanese government had two years to make this decision and didn't," he said. An endangered fish has had the "final nail" in its coffin driven by the federal government after it gave the green light for ongoing salmon farming in a remote harbour. That's the view of environmentalists who have vowed to maintain their legal fight against aquaculture in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour. It was revealed on Thursday Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt had ended a reconsideration of aquaculture approvals in the harbour, based on new national laws. "(The) decision allows for the continuation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour," he said. The reconsideration process was sparked in late 2023 by conservation groups, who argue salmon farming needs to stop to safeguard the endangered Maugean skate. It is estimated there are 40-120 adult skate in the harbour, the species' only home, with salmon farming and hydro flows among factors contributing to their decline. Mr Watt spruiked $18.3 million for an artificial pumping program designed to replace oxygen in the water consumed by salmon farming. The federal government's decision was based on "all relevant information", Mr Watt said. The decision was possible after law changes removed the minister's ability to reconsider previous decisions if they had been ongoing for at least five years. Critics argued the laws, passed in March before the May election, were rushed. Mr Watt's decision on Macquarie Harbour came a week before a Bob Brown Foundation challenge to the laws was set to be heard in the Federal Court. Foundation campaigner Alistair Allan accused the federal government of driving the final nail in the coffin of the skate. He said next week's Federal Court action was now dead, but fresh legal action would be launched based on the grounds the law doesn't apply to industrial fish farming in the harbour "It is a disgrace that a species that was identified by the Albanese government as a priority threatened species in 2022 has been purposely abandoned by 2025," Mr Allan said. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the decision provided certainty for the 400-plus workers who depended on aquaculture in the harbour. There had been a body of new information showing improvements in the harbour's health since 2023, Salmon Tasmania CEO John Whittington said. A University of Tasmania study published in February found there had been a significant decline in the skate's abundance from 2014-2022, but numbers had risen since. Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the federal government of dodging accountability with the timing of their decision. "The only reason this decision has been made by the minister now is to scuttle the Federal Court case. The Albanese government had two years to make this decision and didn't," he said. An endangered fish has had the "final nail" in its coffin driven by the federal government after it gave the green light for ongoing salmon farming in a remote harbour. That's the view of environmentalists who have vowed to maintain their legal fight against aquaculture in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour. It was revealed on Thursday Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt had ended a reconsideration of aquaculture approvals in the harbour, based on new national laws. "(The) decision allows for the continuation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour," he said. The reconsideration process was sparked in late 2023 by conservation groups, who argue salmon farming needs to stop to safeguard the endangered Maugean skate. It is estimated there are 40-120 adult skate in the harbour, the species' only home, with salmon farming and hydro flows among factors contributing to their decline. Mr Watt spruiked $18.3 million for an artificial pumping program designed to replace oxygen in the water consumed by salmon farming. The federal government's decision was based on "all relevant information", Mr Watt said. The decision was possible after law changes removed the minister's ability to reconsider previous decisions if they had been ongoing for at least five years. Critics argued the laws, passed in March before the May election, were rushed. Mr Watt's decision on Macquarie Harbour came a week before a Bob Brown Foundation challenge to the laws was set to be heard in the Federal Court. Foundation campaigner Alistair Allan accused the federal government of driving the final nail in the coffin of the skate. He said next week's Federal Court action was now dead, but fresh legal action would be launched based on the grounds the law doesn't apply to industrial fish farming in the harbour "It is a disgrace that a species that was identified by the Albanese government as a priority threatened species in 2022 has been purposely abandoned by 2025," Mr Allan said. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the decision provided certainty for the 400-plus workers who depended on aquaculture in the harbour. There had been a body of new information showing improvements in the harbour's health since 2023, Salmon Tasmania CEO John Whittington said. A University of Tasmania study published in February found there had been a significant decline in the skate's abundance from 2014-2022, but numbers had risen since. Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the federal government of dodging accountability with the timing of their decision. "The only reason this decision has been made by the minister now is to scuttle the Federal Court case. The Albanese government had two years to make this decision and didn't," he said. An endangered fish has had the "final nail" in its coffin driven by the federal government after it gave the green light for ongoing salmon farming in a remote harbour. That's the view of environmentalists who have vowed to maintain their legal fight against aquaculture in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour. It was revealed on Thursday Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt had ended a reconsideration of aquaculture approvals in the harbour, based on new national laws. "(The) decision allows for the continuation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour," he said. The reconsideration process was sparked in late 2023 by conservation groups, who argue salmon farming needs to stop to safeguard the endangered Maugean skate. It is estimated there are 40-120 adult skate in the harbour, the species' only home, with salmon farming and hydro flows among factors contributing to their decline. Mr Watt spruiked $18.3 million for an artificial pumping program designed to replace oxygen in the water consumed by salmon farming. The federal government's decision was based on "all relevant information", Mr Watt said. The decision was possible after law changes removed the minister's ability to reconsider previous decisions if they had been ongoing for at least five years. Critics argued the laws, passed in March before the May election, were rushed. Mr Watt's decision on Macquarie Harbour came a week before a Bob Brown Foundation challenge to the laws was set to be heard in the Federal Court. Foundation campaigner Alistair Allan accused the federal government of driving the final nail in the coffin of the skate. He said next week's Federal Court action was now dead, but fresh legal action would be launched based on the grounds the law doesn't apply to industrial fish farming in the harbour "It is a disgrace that a species that was identified by the Albanese government as a priority threatened species in 2022 has been purposely abandoned by 2025," Mr Allan said. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the decision provided certainty for the 400-plus workers who depended on aquaculture in the harbour. There had been a body of new information showing improvements in the harbour's health since 2023, Salmon Tasmania CEO John Whittington said. A University of Tasmania study published in February found there had been a significant decline in the skate's abundance from 2014-2022, but numbers had risen since. Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the federal government of dodging accountability with the timing of their decision. "The only reason this decision has been made by the minister now is to scuttle the Federal Court case. The Albanese government had two years to make this decision and didn't," he said.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Salmon farms green lit, but conservation fight not over
An endangered fish has had the "final nail" in its coffin driven by the federal government after it gave the green light for ongoing salmon farming in a remote harbour. That's the view of environmentalists who have vowed to maintain their legal fight against aquaculture in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour. It was revealed on Thursday Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt had ended a reconsideration of aquaculture approvals in the harbour, based on new national laws. "(The) decision allows for the continuation of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour," he said. The reconsideration process was sparked in late 2023 by conservation groups, who argue salmon farming needs to stop to safeguard the endangered Maugean skate. It is estimated there are 40-120 adult skate in the harbour, the species' only home, with salmon farming and hydro flows among factors contributing to their decline. Mr Watt spruiked $18.3 million for an artificial pumping program designed to replace oxygen in the water consumed by salmon farming. The federal government's decision was based on "all relevant information", Mr Watt said. The decision was possible after law changes removed the minister's ability to reconsider previous decisions if they had been ongoing for at least five years. Critics argued the laws, passed in March before the May election, were rushed. Mr Watt's decision on Macquarie Harbour came a week before a Bob Brown Foundation challenge to the laws was set to be heard in the Federal Court. Foundation campaigner Alistair Allan accused the federal government of driving the final nail in the coffin of the skate. He said next week's Federal Court action was now dead, but fresh legal action would be launched based on the grounds the law doesn't apply to industrial fish farming in the harbour "It is a disgrace that a species that was identified by the Albanese government as a priority threatened species in 2022 has been purposely abandoned by 2025," Mr Allan said. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the decision provided certainty for the 400-plus workers who depended on aquaculture in the harbour. There had been a body of new information showing improvements in the harbour's health since 2023, Salmon Tasmania CEO John Whittington said. A University of Tasmania study published in February found there had been a significant decline in the skate's abundance from 2014-2022, but numbers had risen since. Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the federal government of dodging accountability with the timing of their decision. "The only reason this decision has been made by the minister now is to scuttle the Federal Court case. The Albanese government had two years to make this decision and didn't," he said.
NZ Herald
29-04-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Dead salmon create general election stink in Tasmania, Australia
But in the warm, summer temperatures, a bacterium had taken hold in some of the salmon pens. 'What I saw was little chunks, the size of small plums, and they were scattered the entire length of the beach,' said Jess Coughlin, a campaigner with community group Neighbours of Fish Farming. When she sought advice to identify the mystery morsels, a diver who had worked in fish farms told her the industry referred to them as popcorn. 'It's a common occurrence when the fish are left dead in the pens for a number of days and they start to rot and break down,' Coughlin told AFP. Rotting fish At first, the dead salmon sink. 'The flesh and fat pull away from the body and, because of the pressure of the water and the wave action, as it makes its way up to the surface it clumps into these balls.' Dead salmon falling apart within pens where fish are still being grown for human consumption is 'incredibly disturbing', she said. Tasmania's environmental regulator described the die-off in salmon pens in the area – the D'Entrecasteaux Channel – as an 'unprecedented salmon mortality event'. The state's chief veterinary officer Kevin de Witte reported that in the warm, summer waters, the fish had been infected with an endemic bacterium, Piscirickettsia salmonis. ' P. salmonis fish bacterium does not grow in humans and do not present a human or animal health, or food safety risk,' he said. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the microbe had devastated some farms in the area, and operators worked around the clock to clean up the mess and keep fish healthy. 'Catastrophe' 'While industry always does its utmost to raise healthy fish, just like all animals and primary producers, salmon and our farms are not immune to the vagaries of our natural environment,' it said. Some estimates put the number of dead salmon in the millions, said the Bob Brown Foundation, named after its co-founder, an environmentalist and former lawmaker. 'This catastrophe is not just a 'natural vagary',' the foundation said. 'This is the direct result of excessive nitrogen pollution, overstocking of pens, corrupt governance and a consequent failure to regulate, all directly attributable to the foreign-owned salmon corporations' endless greed.' The salmon industry is notably blamed for threatening the existence of the endangered Maugean skate, a species of ray that grows to about the length of an adult person's arm. An estimated 4100 Maugean skates remain in the world, and fewer than 120 of them are old enough to reproduce, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society. They are found only in western Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour, which is also home to about 10% of the state's salmon industry. Official advice to the Federal Government in November 2023 said it may have to reconsider the industry's legality – and eventually even suspend its operations – because of scientific findings of an 'increased extinction risk' to the skates. 'Anger and distress' Less than six weeks before the elections, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Government intervened to block that possibility, saying it had to protect jobs. Parliament adopted a law curbing the Environment Minister's power to review years-old rulings – effectively shielding the Macquarie Bay salmon farmers. But the bay only represents 10% of Tasmania's salmon industry and it is a gateway to rural tourism, the environmentalist Bob Brown told AFP in the weeks leading up to the election. 'There's a mood of anger and distress that I haven't seen for decades and it's getting stronger and there's a lot of young people involved and it's very heartening,' Brown said. Some candidates in Tasmania are campaigning to bring a halt to salmon farming operations based in the open sea. 'I think there will be a bigger vote away from the big parties,' Brown said. 'I think the vote against them will be a record.'
France 24
29-04-2025
- General
- France 24
Dead salmon create election stink on Australian island
When the stinky remains landed in Verona Sands, population 131, they stirred up a festering environment-versus-industry row shortly before Saturday's general elections. The fish remnants found in February were traced to a mass die-off from vast, circular salmon farming pens set up in the waters of the surrounding Tasman Sea estuary. The Tasmanian fish farming industry produces 75,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon a year -- 90 percent of Australia's total output. But in the warm, summer temperatures, a bacterium had taken hold in some of the salmon pens. "What I saw was little chunks, the size of small plums, and they were scattered the entire length of the beach," said Jess Coughlin, a campaigner with community group Neighbours of Fish Farming. When she sought advice to identify the mystery morsels, a diver who had worked in fish farms told her the industry referred to them as popcorn. "It's a common occurrence when the fish are left dead in the pens for a number of days and they start to rot and break down," Coughlin told AFP. Rotting salmon At first, the dead salmon sink. "The flesh and fat pull away from the body and, because of the pressure of the water and the wave action, as it makes its way up to the surface it clumps into these balls." Dead salmon falling apart within pens where fish are still being grown for human consumption is "incredibly disturbing", she said. Tasmania's environmental regulator described the die-off in salmon pens in the area -- the D'Entrecasteaux Channel -- as an "unprecedented salmon mortality event". The state's chief veterinary officer, Kevin de Witte, reported that in the warm, summer waters, the fish had been infected with an endemic bacterium, Piscirickettsia salmonis. "P. salmonis fish bacterium does not grow in humans and do not present a human or animal health, or food safety risk," he assured people. Industry body Salmon Tasmania said the microbe had devastated some farms in the area, and operators worked around the clock to clean up the mess and keep fish healthy. 'Catastrophe' "While industry always does its utmost to raise healthy fish, just like all animals and primary producers, salmon and our farms are not immune to the vagaries of our natural environment," it said. Some estimates put the number of dead salmon in the millions, said the Bob Brown Foundation, named after its co-founder, an environmentalist and former lawmaker. "This catastrophe is not just a 'natural vagary'," the foundation said. "This is the direct result of excessive nitrogen pollution, overstocking of pens, corrupt governance and a consequent failure to regulate, all directly attributable to the foreign-owned salmon corporations' endless greed." The salmon industry is notably blamed for threatening the existence of the endangered Maugean skate, a species of ray that grows to about the length of an adult person's arm. An estimated 4,100 Maugean skates remain in the world, and fewer than 120 of them are old enough to reproduce, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society. They are found only in western Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour, which is also home to about 10 percent of the state's salmon industry. Official advice to the federal government in November 2023 said it may have to reconsider the industry's legality -- and eventually even suspend its operations -- due to scientific findings of an "increased extinction risk" to the skates. 'Anger and distress' Less than six weeks before the elections, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government intervened to block that possibility, saying it had to protect jobs. Parliament adopted a law curbing the environment minister's power to review years-old rulings -- effectively shielding the Macquarie Bay salmon farmers. But the bay only represents 10 percent of Tasmania's salmon industry and it is a gateway to rural tourism, the environmentalist Bob Brown told AFP in the weeks leading up to the election. "There's a mood of anger and distress that I haven't seen for decades and it's getting stronger and there's a lot of young people involved and it's very heartening," Brown said. Some candidates in Tasmania are campaigning to bring a halt to salmon farming operations based in the open sea. "I think there will be a bigger vote away from the big parties," Brown predicted. "I think the vote against them will be a record." © 2025 AFP
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Is eating farmed salmon worth snuffing out 40m years of Tasmanian evolution?
Australia is justly famous as a place where ancient species, long extinct elsewhere, live on. After aeons of adversity, Australia's living fossils often survive only in protected habitats: the Wollemi, Huon and King Billy pines, the Queensland lungfish and even the Tasmanian devil (which thrived on the mainland at the same time as the Egyptians were building the pyramids) are good examples. Such species are a source of wonder for anyone interested in the living world and they should serve as a source of hope that, given half a chance, even ancient, slow-changing species can survive periods of dramatic climate change. Australia's largest repository of living fossils is arguably the cool, shallow marine waters off its southern coastline. Despite that fact that most of us enjoy a swim, snorkel or walk on the beach, the biological importance of our shallow temperate seas is almost entirely unrecognised. In 1996 Tasmania's spotted handfish became the first marine fish to be listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Found only around the Derwent River estuary, this 10cm-long Tasmanian has a cute, froggy face and hand-like fins, which it uses to 'walk' across the sea floor. There are only 14 species of handfish, and all are restricted to the cool waters off southern Australia. Most have limited distributions, several are endangered and a few are known from just a single example. But what is truly surprising about handfish is that they were once widespread. A 50m-year-old fossil was unearthed in the Italian alps. So, like the platypus and Huon pine, handfish are relics, clinging precariously to life in Australia's cool southern waters. The Maugean skate, also known as the 'thylacine of the sea', has become famous because it is endangered by salmon farming. It is also a living fossil, found only in the tannin-rich waters of Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast. The Maugean skate's relatives inhabit shallow marine waters around New Zealand and Patagonia, indicating that the species is a relic from the time, about 40m years ago, when Australia, Antarctica and South America were joined together to form Gondwana. Its predicament is forcing ordinary Australians to ask whether it's right to snuff out 40m years of evolution for a salmon bagel. The bell clapper shell, found only in the shallow waters off Australia's south-west, is a third and most surprising relic. These long and narrow chalky white shells, shaped like the clapper of a bell, remain common enough that you have a fair chance of finding a sea-washed example on a beach walk anywhere between Perth and Esperance. Yet it is a living fossil with a truly exotic history. When workers were constructing the sewers of Paris in the 19th century, they often came across fossil bell clapper shells, some of which were up to a metre long. Right across the world, from Europe to eastern Australia, bell clapper fossils abound. Yet only in Western Australia's south-west can living examples still be seen. Handfish, Maugean skates and bell clapper shells are just three charismatic species among a plethora of smaller and less spectacular marine species that have found refuge in the cool waters off southern Australia. Today the great juggernaut of climate breakdown threatens to extinguish their entire habitat. The heating caused by our emissions of greenhouse gases is not distributed evenly. The oceans are absorbing 90% of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases, and the high latitudes are warming faster than areas closer to the equator. Catastrophic changes are unfolding. Giant kelp once abounded in the shallows off eastern Tasmania. So great is the biodiversity found in groves of giant kelp that Charles Darwin called them the rainforests of the sea. Due to warming waters, in most places it's nothing but a memory. When the kelp vanishes, so does the biodiversity. Problems of simple warming are compounded by the migration of the long-spined sea urchin, which is spreading southwards as waters warm. Without the strongest efforts to eliminate greenhouse gases, it can't be long before the first of southern Australia's marine living fossils wink out. The survival of Australia's living fossils is a source of wonder and hope for me. The fact that platypus, which are little changed for 100m years, continue to survive in creeks and rivers near the largest Australian metropolises helps calm my worst fears about our future. And, while I may never see one in the wild, knowing that spotted handfish continue to walk the bay floor near the Hobart casino brings joy to my soul. I continue to believe that once Australians realise what is at stake, they will act to protect our extraordinary biodiversity. There is no doubt that good climate policy is facing a Trumpian apocalypse. Yet, like our living fossils, some bold initiatives survive, among them Andrew Forrest's 'real zero' target by 2030 for his iron ore mines. If an energy-hungry iron ore miner operating in a remote corner of Australia can abolish all use of fossil fuels in the next five years, why can't we all? Prof Tim Flannery is one of Australia's foremost climate change experts, an internationally recognised scientist, explorer and conservationist. He was named Australian of the Year in 2007 and is chief councillor of the Climate Council. He is also is a board member of Minderoo Foundation, Andrew Forrest's philanthropic vehicle
