Huon Aquaculture jumps to own defence after $40k pollution fine

An ASX-listed Tasmanian company which was fined $40,000 after dumping polluted waste water, has been criticised for defending themselves on social media – after admitting guilt in court. READ WHAT THEY SAID HERE >>

AN ASX-listed Tasmanian company has been criticised for launching an “absurd defence” on Facebook over its environmental credentials despite pleading guilty to a host of pollution crimes in court.

On Monday, the Huon Aquaculture was fined $40,000 in the Hobart Magistrates Court after releasing waste water into a nearby foreshore on more than one occasion between January and May 2018.

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Magistrate Michael Daly noted the waste water containing ammonia, copper, lead and zinc would have been toxic to marine life, but said he hadn’t been informed of any specific harm or damage caused by the spills.

But despite pleading guilty to five counts of breaching an environment protection notice and one count of depositing a pollutant where environmental harm may be caused, the company claimed on Tuesday it caused no “material environmental harm” and said “there was no run-off into the waterways”.

Via a lengthy Facebook post, Huon Aquaculture said it had in fact invested “a considerable amount of effort” into cleaning the historically contaminated land at Whale Point, while giving detailed explanations behind the charges.

The ASX-listed company claimed it emptied drum water comprising “organic seaweed, small amounts of mussel shell and fine sea floor sediments” into an ash pit on its own land and in doing so rehabilitated the land.

Claiming the barren area was now “sprouting green grass”, Huon Aquaculture said that in doing so it had also breached its Environmental Protection Notice.

The saga continued with Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection co-chair Peter George issuing a statement criticising the ASX-listed company’s “excuses” on social media.

“In court it pleads guilty to environmental charges. Afterwards … it presents excuses in a Facebook post,” he said, claiming the $40,000 fine was “generously light”.

“Huon Aquaculture’s attempts to exculpate itself do not address the Environmental Protection Authority’s conclusions that highly-polluted discharge waste potentially endangered marine life in the salt marshes.

“The company’s Facebook post fails to reflect the fact that the company broke the rules not once, not twice but six times – despite repeated warnings from the EPA.”

In 2018, Huon Aquaculture failed in Federal Court proceedings against competitors Tassal and Petuna after arguing they exceeded salmon numbers in Macquarie Harbour.

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