Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to urge ‘extreme intervention’ on Maugean skate

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will urge the Tasmanian government to act immediately to save an endangered species from the brink of extinction.

Maugean skate, an endangered species photographed in Macquarie Harbour.

Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner has described the plight of an endangered Tasmanian skate as “very dire”, signalling that the federal government will push for “extreme intervention” to save the ancient fish from the brink of extinction.

Dr Fiona Fraser’s forthright remarks come after the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) published an interim report last week showing that Maugean skate numbers in Macquarie Harbour, where the last population is believed to reside, declined by 47 per cent between 2017 and 2021.

The report is part of a three-year gillnet survey monitoring program gathering data on the skate.

Maugean skate, an endangered species photographed in Macquarie Harbour.

IMAS researchers said the scale of the Maugean skate’s decline was of “significant concern for the conservation of the species and implies the need for immediate action”.

A 2016 report estimated there were 3200 skates left in Macquarie Harbour. Its estimated area of occupancy is 100 sq/km.

Among the factors contributing to the decline of the species are aquaculture, recreational gillnetting, commercial fishing, hydro inflows, and rising water temperatures.

In a Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday, Dr Fraser said the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Water and the Environment was “extremely concerned about the plight of the skate”.

“[The] Threatened Species Scientific Committee is working to update the conservation advice so that we’ve got some strong recovery actions to help guide the recovery of that skate,” she said.

Dr Fraser said “clearly a lot more needs to be done” to save the species.

“It’s a very dire situation,” she said.

“I also understand that [Environment] Minister [Tanya] Plibersek is poised to write to her counterpart in Tasmania urging extreme intervention to assist the skate and actually avert its extinction.”

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, Newswire Photos. MAY 23, 2023: Tanya Plibersek during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ms Plibersek has set a goal of zero plant and animal extinctions under her watch.

The Maugean skate is among the 110 priority species listed in the federal government’s Threatened Species Action Plan.

In state parliament on Thursday, Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff asked Environment Minister Roger Jaensch if he would move to upgrade the status of the Maugean skate from endangered to critically endangered.

She also queried whether he would order the removal of all fish farms from Macquarie Harbour in order to protect the species.

Mr Jaensch said the government had updated a listing statement for the skate “late last year” and was in the process of developing a conservation action plan in collaboration with the federal government.