NOFF demands immediate action on Maugean skate – “No excuses for further delays”

There are no excuses for further delays in removing open-net salmon pens from Macquarie Harbour in light of the latest scientific advice to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek. Just as urgent is Federal and State action to help the Tasmanian West Coast transition to sustainable employment and industry - an effort well overdue and which NOFF has been advocating for years.

News that Australia's Threatened Species Scientific Committee has recommended drastically cutting back or removing the polluting industry from Macquarie Harbour to protect the 60-million-year-old Maugean skate from extinction comes as no surprise to NOFF - nor to the state's politicians or the industry itself.

NOFF calls on Minister Plibersek to delay no longer as she received similar advice from Federal scientists last year who urged her to act before last summer.

"The latest scientific advice on Macquarie Harbour could not be clearer and it's time that Salmon Tasmania and its foreign owners faced up to their responsibilities." Said NOFF President Peter George. "They've long known the impact their industry has had on Macquarie Harbour but they've avoided their responsibilities by refusing to acknowledge the damage and mounted intensive lobbying of politicians to cover for them.

"Their plans to take a West Coast workers delegation to Canberra amount to no more than one more hollow attempt to bully politicians not to act in Tasmania's greater interests which is protecting our unique natural resources from industrial destruction.

"They'd achieve more by approaching Federal and State governments for assistance in funding a long-overdue transition away from the salmon industry to sustainable employment in sustainable industries - industries that might well include land-based fish production or alternate forms of aquaculture that do not inflict damage on the waterway."

The Federal Government has invited public comment on the eligibility of Maugean Skate for uplisting from Endangered to Critically Endangered on the threatened species list, and the necessary conservation actions for the species. Consultation closes on 26 September. 

Read the report and make your submission here

More information:

• Jess Coughlan, NOFF campaigner, 0431 684 741
• Lisa Litjens, NOFF vice president, 0400 461 624