Killora community claims video footage is evidence of Tassal breaching lease conditions
A small community has renewed calls for Tassal to cease operations in their area, claiming video evidence shows the company is breaching lease conditions. WATCH THE VIDEO
Tasmania
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VIDEO footage of damaged reef in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel will be referred to marine experts to determine whether an investigation will take place into Tasmania’s biggest salmon producer.
It comes as the Killora Community Group renews calls for the salmon giant to cease its operations in the Channel.
Group spokesman Gerard Castles said video footage shot by a marine scientist in September showed an ecologically vibrant reef at the Tinderbox Marine Reserve.
In contrast, Mr Castles said about 90 metres away from Tassal’s Sheppards lease, there is a “death zone” filled with algae.
“Before salmon farming began at Sheppards this was a similar reef to Tinderbox, rich with life,” he said.
“Tassal’s environmental licence conditions clearly state that there must be ‘no significant visual, physico-chemical, or biological impacts at or extending beyond 35 metres from the boundary of the lease area’,” he said.
Environmental scientist and former Derwent Estuary Program director Christine Coughanowr said nutrients discharged into sheltered waters were often taken up by macroalgae and epiphytes that grow on seaweeds and seagrasses.
“If this algae becomes too prolific, it can smother and shade out other plant life, and when it dies off, this decomposing vegetation can sink to the bottom and draw down oxygen levels leading to the death of crayfish, abalone and other bottom-dwelling organisms,” she said.
Environment Protection Authority director Wes Ford said they would refer the video footage to the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies for review and advice.
“The EPA will then determine if further investigation is required and will collect video information and survey near the lease,” he said.
A state government spokesman said the EPA was responsible for the regulation of the state’s salmon farming industry.
“The government has every confidence in the EPA to take appropriate steps to ensure the industry operates sustainably,” he said.
Mr Castles said Tassal needed to leave the upper Channel “before they destroy it”.
“If Tassal destroy the Channel they are going to destroy more than one of Tasmania’s iconic places — they are going to destroy many Tasmanians’ livelihoods, both in aquaculture and in the tourism industry,” he said.
“They need to be transitioning out of shallow in-shore sites as a matter of urgency into deep ocean and land-based alternatives.”
Clark independent MP Andrew Wilkie said he supported the push for Tassal to leave the Channel.
“It’s time Tassal left North Bruny for deeper waters. The salmon farms at the northern end of the D’Entrecastaeux Channel are simply inappropriate as this passage is a shallow and busy waterway and the farms are disruptive to local residents,” he said.
“Not to mention how destructive salmon farming is to the environment and local ecosystem.”
Tassal declined to comment.
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