Anger at ‘stealth’ plan for fish farms off Burnie coast

Conservation groups have accused the state and federal governments of keeping opponents in the dark about a new offshore aquaculture trial.

CONSERVATION groups have panned plans for a trial of fish farms in Commonwealth waters off Burnie.

Public feedback is being sought on the plans to use a 50 hectare site in Bass Strait around three nautical miles north of Burnie.

The federal government has announced plans for a three-year trial of aquaculture by the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre to consider the environmental, economic, and operational feasibility of offshore aquaculture.

“The trial is proposed for Bass Strait for a period of three years followed by a review and will incorporate consultation on any longer term arrangements,” a background paper on the trial says.

“Should the trial be successful, the Australian Government intends to work with all states and territories to provide for the extension of aquaculture into Commonwealth waters.”

Moving fish farms offshore has been mooted as a way of addressing concerns raised about inshore aquaculture.

But the Bob Brown Foundation’s Marine and Fish Farms Campaigner Bec Howarth said the plan was a sign that industrial fish farming in Bass Strait was underway by stealth.

“The seals, seabirds and fisheries of Bass Strait now face all the cruelties brought to southern Tasmanian waterways by the invasion of private aquaculture companies,” she said.

“Taxpayers money flowing through ‘Blue Economy’ is being used to featherbed private corporations at the expense of the publicly-owned marine and coastal amenity.

“Public Submissions are only accepted for another nine days.

“This application and call for submissions have not been advertised at all to the North West coast community, who still remain completely in the dark.”

Peter Whish-Wilson. Photograph Eddie Safarik

Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the call for public submissions had not been well publicised.

“The Commonwealth Government apparently opened public submissions for this project on February 4, but it seems they forgot to tell anyone and the project’s partner – Blue Economy CRC – might not have known until a week later when they published a media release on their own website,” he said.

“This toxic industry has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted, and now this project is failing at the first hurdle.

“I don’t think putting a fish farm three to six nautical miles off the coast of one of our state’s largest cities is what people would have in mind when they think about ‘offshore’ fisheries.”

And Peter George from the Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection said the proposal was a trojan horse for the industry to move into Commonwealth waters.

“Without any prior consultation with affected communities, a zone of 24 square kilometres has been allocated for floating feedlots, 11 kilometres off Burnie, for a “trial” of industrial salmon farming.

“It is a stitch-up by the usual vested interests and is industry expansion by stealth – exactly as predicted last year by TAMP and its affiliated community groups.”

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