Anti-salmon campaigners slam Tasmanian government’s 10-year plan for the industry

A new 10-year plan for Tasmania’s salmon industry has been lashed by community groups, who say it shows the state government ‘doesn’t actually give a damn what Tasmanians want’.

Anti-salmon groups are furious that the state government didn’t consult the community before developing its new 10-year plan for the embattled industry, with the campaigners saying “it doesn’t actually give a damn what Tasmanians want”.

On Thursday, Premier Peter Gutwein and Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett outlined the plan – which will commence from January 1, 2023 – and said it would make the state’s salmon industry more sustainable into the future.

But Neighbours of Fish Farming president Peter George described the initiative as a “sham plan” that was “absolutely worse than nothing at all”.

“It’s better to deal with something that we know than it is some sham plan that pushes the same problem for the next 10 years,” he said.

Co Chair for TAMP Peter George.

“If this government was serious about the plan, it would be consulting and partnering with the community in the first place. So it’s quite clear that it doesn’t actually give a damn what Tasmanians want, it only gives a damn about what the industry wants.”

The plan will prioritise inland farming and offshore operations in Commonwealth waters. It will also include a 12-month moratorium on new leases in the state.

Mr Barnett has said the government will review fees and charges imposed on the industry, as well as improve transparency and regulation.

The announcement of the plan comes after months of sustained pressure on the Tasmanian salmon industry, following the release of internationally acclaimed author Richard Flanagan’s book Toxic.

State Labor has criticised the plan, saying the government had merely adopted “Greens policy”. The industry itself, however, has welcomed the news.

“We look forward to robust consultation with (the) government and its department on their plan,” a Tasmanian Salmonid Growers Association spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Gerard Castles from The Killora Community Association. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Bruny Island resident Gerard Castles, the spokesman for the Killora Community Association, said the government was merely throwing a “veil of action” over an industry that was “falling apart”, while Greens environment and biodiversity spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said the plan had been “cooked up behind closed doors without talking to the communities who are affected”.

Mr Gutwein said yesterday that the plan “provides a pathway to sustainability over the longer term” and would “mean more on-land growth and it’ll also mean deep water”.

“The last salmon plan … was about doubling the value of the industry, (it) wasn’t about doubling the size or the number of leases that the industry had,” he said. “But the future of salmon, I think, is on land and in deep water but obviously with managing the current leases and no increase in the net leasable area.”