Environment Protection Authority tells fish farmers to lower pen stock

HUON Aquaculture says it has lost confidence in the Environment Protection Authority and the State Government’s ability to regulate fish farming at Macquarie Harbour.

HUON Aquaculture says it has lost confidence in the Environment Protection Authority and the State Government’s ability to regulate fish farming at Macquarie Harbour.

Founder Frances Bender said the company had written to Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg urging his department to intervene to “protect the long term reputation of the industry and to secure the jobs of those who work in it”.

The environmental watchdog has released its draft plans to clamp down on Macquarie Harbour’s fish farmers, with the number of salmon penned there to be limited to 14,000 tonnes by next summer. The current cap for the harbour is 21,500 tonnes and it is currently home to about 16,000 tonnes of penned fish.

The EPA has written to the three lease holders — Tassal, Huon Aquaculture and Petuna — advising them they have four weeks to consider the direction.

Mrs Bender said the limit of 14,000 tonnes was not a decrease and was at odds with independent research provided by IMAS and the CSIRO, that a biomass of 11,000 tonnes was unsustainable.

“We do not have confidence in the regulator or the government to appropriately regulate our industry in the interest of the people of Tasmania, the long term security of Tasmanian jobs or the cherished Tasmanian environment which is indelibly woven into the Tasmanian identity or brand,” she said.

She labelled the announcement as “smoke and mirrors and spin”.

“The draft determination will achieve nothing and will further exacerbate the extremely low dissolved oxygen levels in the harbour,” she said.

EPA director Wes Ford said his decision was based on the current dissolved oxygen levels in the harbour’s deep waters and a count of Beggiatoa species — which oxidise sulphur to sulfate when oxygen is lacking — over the past six months.

“It needs to be better managed,” Mr Ford said. “There are also mechanisms in place to further reduce the limit if conditions in the harbour deteriorate into the future.”

Tassal CEO Mark Ryan welcomed the draft and said he wanted to reassure the community the long-term sustainability of the harbour was still the company’s first priority.

“Tassal has already voluntarily reduced stocking numbers in the harbour and will continue to work with IMAS scientists to understand the optimal carrying capacity,” he said.

The company said the short-term decrease would not have a material impact on its business.

Petuna CEO Mark Porter said the company’s stocking density was 60 per cent lower than levels required and well below those considered to be world’s best practice.

“Less than half of our available lease space is being used to provide the best possible conditions for sustainable management, which includes the welfare of the fish,” Dr Porter said.

Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff said he fully supported the EPA’s draft determination.

Environment Tasmania said there was no evidence that a reduction to 14,000 tonnes would address the environmental and economic risks in the Harbour.

“Proper risk management demands at minimum a return to the 9000-tonne cap that existed before production was tripled and oxygen levels crashed,” a spokesperson said.