NOFF's co-campaign with SIX invest is underway in 2025

After a historic vote last year, the call is growing for supermarket Coles to help save the endangered Maugean Skate.

• Coles has been served for the second year running with a shareholder resolution urging them to stop sourcing salmon from Macquarie Harbour, which is threatening the endangered Maugean Skate.

• Businessman, author and environmental advocate Geoff Cousins has joined the call as one of the lead filers on the resolution, which is supported by 132 shareholders.

• Geoff Cousins is joining with other lead filers, Tasmanian NGOs Neighbours of Fish Farming and Environment Tasmania, and activist trading platform SIX.
  

In 2024, nearly 40% of shareholders rallied against the Coles board to support a world-first resolution to prevent the extinction of the Maugean skate. This was the largest supported nature resolution in the world last year.

Activist trading platform SIX has now re-lodged resolutions to Coles for their 2025 resolution, along with lead-filers Neighbours of Fish Farming, Environment Tasmania and business leader Geoff Cousins. The resolution is supported by 132 Coles shareholders, with 25% of the shareholders being Tasmanians who live alongside the toxic salmon farms.

Despite being delivered a strong message from shareholders at their 2024 AGMs, the supermarkets have failed to act with the urgency that both the skate and investors need.

Now NGOs and Geoff Cousins are heading to the Coles AGM to highlight just how little action has been taken in the nearly 8 months since.

Geoff Cousins said: "With the heavy concentration of power in the supermarket industry in Australia goes an equally heavy responsibility for sustainable and responsible actions. Coles complete and continued refusal to accept that the Tasmanian salmon industry in its current form is providing unsustainable and unhealthy products to its customers is unacceptable. Its shareholders and customers are at risk from this refusal to act by the Board of Directors."

Jess Coughlan, Environmental Campaigner at Neighbours of Fish Farming, said: "It's time that the board of Coles makes good on its claim that it has a plan to transition away from stocking Macquarie Harbour salmon under their responsibly sourced seafood label. Our shareholder resolution gathered 39% of the vote last year and we anticipate a higher result this year. The board has a responsibility to respond to shareholder concerns and take appropriate action."

Kelly Roebuck, Sustainable Seafood Campaign Director at Living Oceans Society and Vice Chair of Environment Tasmania, said "The 60-million old Maugean skate remains at critically low numbers and could be extinct within as little as ten years. It is astonishing that Coles is willing to gamble being associated with a potential extinction instead of listening to their customers, shareholders, and investors' funds, representing millions of members, who are simply asking for Coles to be a responsible business leader and remove a small amount of their salmon supply."

Adam Verwey, CEO of SIX, said "There's a lot of frustration from Coles shareholders, including the big super funds, that their concerns around Coles' ability to manage their nature risks are not being acted on. Coles is facing the embarrassing prospect of a majority shareholder vote against their Board on this issue. After a world leading vote last year, all it will take is a couple more super funds to vote in favour of the resolution this year. It's a complete failure of their risk management if Coles needs to be dragged by their shareholders into stopping an extinction caused by their salmon supply."

The resolution is also supported by NGO Ekō, the Reichstein Foundation and ethical advice groups Ethinvest, Ethical Investment Advisers and Tasethical.