Bruny Island community’s fight against fish farms the beginning of a greater ‘reckoning’, says marine alliance

The Bruny Island community’s demands for a salmon farmer to leave the North D’Entrecasteaux Channel have been called the beginning of a broader “reckoning”.

• The Bruny Island residents telling Tassal to abandon the D’Entrecasteaux Channel
• EPA says no trends show aquaculture the cause of Tasman Peninsula algae bloom

A BRUNY Island resident group’s fight to kick Tasmania’s largest salmon producer out of the North D’Entrecasteaux Channel is the beginning of a greater “reckoning”, says the Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection.

TAMP co-chair Peter George said Killora Community Association’s recent demands for Tassal to turn over two leases in the channel to the state government were the first in growing demand for an end to industrial fish farming in “unsuitable waters”.

Residents have also called for the western side of the channel to become an extension of the Tinderbox Marine Reserve.

Mr George said the demands made “good sense”.

“The Channel is too shallow and the current too weak to allow thousands of tonnes of fish food and faeces to continue to be released in the water to the detriment of all marine life in the area,” he said.

Fish farming pens in Crooked Billet Bay out from Nubeena. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Tassal’s increased production near Port Arthur has led to algal infestations, “despoiling some beautiful sites” such as Long Bay and Stingaree Bay, Mr George said.

Mr George warned Tassal and fellow salmon farmer Huon Aquaculture “a reckoning is coming”.

“Coast communities are starting to realise the jobs created in the industry are simply unsustainable under these conditions.”

The Environment Protection Authority said there are no clear trends that identify aquaculture as the cause of recent algal blooms.

Bruny Island residents Gerard Castles and Essie Davis from Killora Community Association are concerned about the impact salmon farming is having on the environment in their area. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

A Tassal spokesperson said the company’s operations in the Upper Channel were fully compliant with the regulatory setting and its licence conditions.

“We then go above and beyond the regulatory guidelines to accommodate our neighbours,” they said.

“Following a complaint from several Killora residents, Tassal sought expert noise advice and purchased and installed additional tailored noise mitigating infrastructure to further mitigate noise on the Upper Channel leases even though all operations are within the licence conditions.”

Killora Community Association spokesman Gerard Castles said residents were fed up after years of trying to compromise with the company.

He said waters once rich with marine life were now deserted and “slimed with algae”.