Tasmanian Salmon Industry Plan to be unveiled on Monday

The state government will on Monday release its long-awaited salmon industry plan but the biggest question remains – will this be retrograde or revolutionary for the beleaguered industry?

Salmon pens in Long Bay, Tasman Peninsula. Picture: Supplied

The Tasmanian government will on Monday unveil its long-awaited Tasmanian Salmon Industry Plan, a document intended to guide the industry’s development over the next 10 years.

First announced in September 2021, the new 10-year plan, replacing the existing Sustainable Industry Growth Plan 2017, was billed as a “reset” for the beleaguered industry.

When announcing the plan, former Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett said the new plan would be guided by four guiding principles:
– There would be no net increase in leased farming areas in Tasmanian waters.
– Innovation: future growth lies in land based and offshore salmon farming.
– World-best practice through continuous improvement.
– Strict independent regulation.

The draft 10-year plan, released last November, gave further insight into the state government’s thinking.

Salmon pens in Long Bay, Tasman Peninsula. Picture: Supplied

Noting that the industry supported approximately 2000 direct jobs and contributed $650m to the state economy, the draft plan stated that the state government “supports a modern salmon industry in Tasmania, meeting the long-term needs of the salmon industry, supporting supply chain businesses and realising the aspirations of Tasmanian communities”.

The draft plan said the state government will support “finfish developments in areas that are further away from land, higher energy, more exposed and deeper”; implement a Salmonid Biosecurity Program and a Wildlife Interaction Standard to minimise the risk of disease and damage to native species; and move to fully recover from industry the costs of management services provided by the state government.

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Other initiatives canvassed in the draft plan include expanding the information presently disclosed on the Salmon Portal; making more regulatory information available by the independent regulator, the EPA; and making the results of independent research undertaken by key institutions IMAS, CSIRO, and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation more comprehensible to a lay audience.

Salmon Tasmania communications director Stuart Harris told the Mercury that his organisation was not privy to an advance copy of the final plan to be delivered on Monday.

Tassal salmon pens, in Macquarie Harbour, Strahan, West Coast of Tasmania. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

“We will wait until the plan is out to comment,” he said.

“We don’t want to be discussing hypotheticals at this stage.”

Robyn Weare, spokeswoman for green group NWTAS for Clean Oceans, continued her organisation’s calls for a re-evaluation of the industry.

“Tasmania cannot continue to rely on our clean green brand when our coastal waters are silently putrefying, and an increasing number of marine species are being mistreated or facing extinction,” she said.

“We hear the government when they say the industry has created 2000 jobs but we do not hear from government about the growing damage to our marine environment and the multi millions ploughed into the industry by federal and state governments every year.”