As might be expected, most of the submissions to the inquiry criticised the salmon farms operations, but the farms supporters emphasised the jobs they provided, particularly for young people, and in regional areas. Biomass limits came under scrutiny during the rapid expansion of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour, and high amounts of dissolved nitrogen and nutrients from fish farms have been blamed for green algae in Tasmanian waterways. Theres nothing new in Richards book. the largest expansion of salmon farming in Tasmania's history. We eat it, too, believing it to be sustainably grown in the clear waters of our southern-most state. "Why would we take arisk with a product that's ever expanding the risk to our environment is so great," said MONA's executive chef Vince Trim. The now $1 billion industry has sparked the ire of activists and locals living near salmon farms. In the book, Flanagan wrote how fish feed contains waste from chicken farming, including "macerated battery hen intestines, skulls, feathers and rendered chicken fat". Growing the Tasmanian Atlantic salmon farming industry - CSIRO At first, Castles and the other shackies of North Bruny would send polite, hesitant emails to Tassal asking if something could be done about the noise. We coast past a canyon of pens cordoned off with black buoys. "The aquaculture industry approached us and said your problem is ours, so we ended up with a community forum that has morphed over the years," she said. In search of someone to talk to from the industrys side, I was directed to Julian Amos, spokesman for the Tasmanian Salmonid Growers Association. Tasmania's salmon industry expansion has no sound scientific basis "I actually startedringing friends in Sydney and Melbourne and saying 'You may not care about the environment but for your own health, don't eat it'," he said. And thats been the case for everything from the Franklin [River] to gay rights to Indigenous rights, on and on and on., Flanagan no longer writes his books at his shack on North Bruny. If I ate salmon, I would know I was eating junk food, and I would make an informed choice about that.. An official tour with Tassals rival, Huon Aquaculture, had been planned for this day. Its incredible that were now nearly a month out, three weeks since the book first appeared in Hobart, and not one politician theres no denial of any of the claims, he says. His appetite-crushing answer? The results show that One in two (49%) Australians support a moratorium on the expansion of the salmon farming industry in Tasmania until issues raised in the inquiry have been resolved, 15% oppose. The final report recommended applying "environmental bonds" to salmon farm operators in case of any remedial works that might be required because of industry operations. Atlantic salmon is the highest valued commercial fisheryrelated industry in Tasmania, with annual output valued at around $497 million 1. Also in their food is fishmeal made from jeopardised fish stocks stabilised with a pesticide also used to stop car tyres cracking that happens to be a carcinogen, and soy meal that has possible links to slave labour and the deforestation of the Amazon and the destruction of the Cerrado and that drives global heating. I put it to Amos that theres a dissonance between what the industry is saying and what people are seeing and experiencing and discovering. In his incendiary new book, Toxic: the Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry, the Booker Prize winner asks exactly what it is were consuming when we eat Tasmanian salmon. Within a month of publication, it was already on its fourth print run, and within two months it had become the fastest-selling book in the 101-year history of the famed Fullers Bookshop in Flanagans home town of Hobart. 'Stop Eating Tasmanian Salmon' - Tasmanian Times The platypus survived megafauna and continental drift, but can it survive us? Two Tasmanian salmon aquaculture companies, Tassal Operations Pty. Whats the financial benefit for Tasmanians in the end? [.] We just wanted to have this peaceful little bolthole.Credit: Adam Gibson. On a Thursday evening in early June, Im sitting in the lounge room of one of them, Louise Cherrie. Tasmania's toxic secret: The rotting underbelly of the salmon industry To date the Tasmanian government has treated the state's salmon-farming industry as a potential goldmine which, under its sustainable industry growth plan, it hopes will be worth $2bn by. While salmon farming is being banned in other parts of the world, he said, the Tasmanian government was facilitating its growth. He said he has a good relationship with his salmon supplier, but thinks the industry as a whole needs to be more transparent to regain community support. The EPA is responsible for the environmental regulation of marine and freshwater finfish farms in Tasmania. This is a mainstream problem., She no longer believes in a sustainable salmon industry, but she wont be advising people not to eat its products. Its too late to get rid of farmed salmon the market is too big, there are too many people who still love the stuff. She hasnt lost one. Richard Flanagan has joined us here for morning tea and scones. Amos assures that the industry will not double in size. Shadowy headlands, coastal cliffs and eucalypts shrouded in fog glide in and out of view as we cruise down the DEntrecasteaux Channel, the waterway between Bruny Island and the mainland of south-east Tasmania. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/tas-salmon-industry-reform-parliamentary-inquiry-transparency/101094476, The scandal-plagued global food giant behind Huon salmon, Blunt force trauma a factor in half of Tassal's autopsied seal deaths, report shows, 'History-making': PM and treasurer announce Michele Bullock as new RBA governor, Michele Bullock becomes first woman to serve as RBA governor, replacing Philip Lowe. In a statement, minister Jo Palmer said the government was taking time to consider the report, and its 10-Year Salmon Plan would support a sustainable industry. Neither of us are enjoying this. Australia's largest salmon farmer, Tassal, uses 2 kg of wild caught fish in feed to produce just 1 kg of farmed salmon. Tassal fish pens in the DEntrecasteaux Channel. The committee found that publicly available data on fish farm plans and leases was inconsistentand that data about salmon biomass, pollutants and impacts was not always publicly available, with public requests for information often being denied or diverted through the Right to Information process. The word is slowly spreading to the mainland, too. The industry claims to support 12,000 Tasmanian jobs indirectly but a local economist, Graeme Wells, writing in The Mercury, called this an exaggeration, estimating that at most the industry provides 4400 jobs indirectly. I ask. But as production ramped up and up and up over the decade and a half, noise increased, boat traffic increased, and Tassals attitude increased We reached a dead-end with the company.. Peter George, president of Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF), said plans were underway to change the minds of Australian consumers. But the way he has pulled it all together is brilliant. Its performance has been extraordinary, says Fullers manager Tim Jarvis, who reports that more than 1700 copies were sold in its first two months alone. We spent 15 years trying to reduce the noise, then we started digging and found out what was underneath those cages, Castles says. The expansion was approved with just three sitting members of the panel and two expired members to make a quorum of five. Today, Norway is the worlds largest producer of farmed salmon. The first experimental salmon farms were established in Norway in the late 1960s. In 2005 it was bought by Tassal, and over time the pens multiplied. The bulk of the market for salmon is not Tasmania, but the rest of Australia, with 65 per cent of the fish sold domestically. Noise from the site causes distress for the nearby Killora community. Credit: Adam Gibson. Far from being cowboys in a paddock, this industry brings to the table a social responsibility, a realm of science and a commitment to transparency emulated by few others., As Flanagans critics accuse him of hyperbole and of cherry-picking information to present an unbalanced argument, Toxic makes the case for everyone from politicians to industry leaders to everyday Australians to see whats at stake. In their eyes, the cages are symbols of an industry that has grown too fast, too big, too powerful. Are Tasmanias salmon farmers considering such a move? Macquarie Harbour recovers from rapid salmon expansion as EPA considers Booker Prize winning author Richard Flanagan's 2021 book Toxic presented a different view. Salmon farming uses violent tactics and devices that would be considered animal cruelty in any other circumstance: deploying tens of thousands of underwater 'cracker bombs' each year to deter seals, which shatter bones, rupture ear drums, and herniate brain tissue [3]; shooting bean-bag projectiles, as commonly used by riot police [4, 5]; and tr. A huge hurdle is coming for Dutton but a bigger challenge is right behind, How Jesse's dress is overturning the army's gender diversity policy, Penny Wong in frank talks with China over trade and human rights at ASEAN summit. As the site grew, so did the noise, the light and the marine traffic. The only solution is to turn it into a proper industrial process where you control everything that goes in and what comes out, just like any land-based industry. The farming process became more mechanised, with operations running at all hours, ships working through the night, illuminating the darkness, piercing the quiet, until this tranquil stretch of water began to feel like an industrial zone. "I get a bit sick of people coming from Hobart and telling us that we're unhappy with fish farms," she said. Huon hit back, saying the feed didnt have enough pigment in it, which cost Huon sales and reputation, and triggered compensation claims by customers. "I was shocked what a disturbing foodstuff salmon is," he said. Frontiers | Tracing Environmental Sustainability Discourses: An We havent found one in 10 years. As we sit by the fire, Castles reiterates something many have said to me over recent months. Its so funny how many high-vis, big, burly guys are saying, Good on you, this is wrong, I cant catch a fish where I used to, Im sick of what Im seeing on the beaches, we ran into some bloody piping one day in the boat and it was unsafe. When people like me in their high-vis start saying, No, this is wrong dont dismiss it as NIMBY and green issues. The Tasmanian Government has developed a Tasmanian Salmon Industry Scorecard, which benchmarks the State's environmental monitoring regime against international regulatory practices for salmon aquaculture. A month after the release of Flanagans book, hundreds of surfers take to the sea at Clifton Beach south-east of Hobart to protest against fish farms. Gerard Castles shack is like stepping back in time. The seabed below and around one of Tassals three farms in the harbour, its Franklin lease, was found to be virtually devoid of life, threatening an endangered species, the Maugean skate, and a World Heritage area. Thats a lack of management, not adaptive management.. But its not just the environmental impact of fish farms that is causing concern; the healthiness of the salmon itself is under scrutiny. But has she changed enough? But has she changed enough? PDF Australasian Agribusiness Perspectives 2021, Volume 24, Paper 11 ISSN "Because the last thing we want to see is this industry become more of a divisive point of discussion in the community.". Booksellers bought in on the strength of Flanagans name and the proposed title. Following a comprehensive scientific assessment of the ecological impact of Tasmanian salmon farms, Atlantic Salmon has been downgraded from an Amber, 'Think Twice' rating to a Red, 'Say-No'. 'Battery-hen farming of the sea': sustainable alternatives to eating salmon The state government has already announced that the industry growth plan will be replaced by a new 10-year plan in January 2023, and there is currently a moratorium on expansion to leased farming areas while the plan is drawn up. The majority of Australian salmon farming is located in Tasmania, where waters are among the warmest in the world for Atlantic salmon culture. This survey had surprising results, the state's primary industriesminister pleaded for the industry's social licence to be returned. He wrote Toxic in eight months, he tells me, and did so in secrecy. I want to know about the industrys plans to double its value to $2 billion by 2030. (Australian salmon, a wild-caught, coastal fish, is unrelated to Atlantic salmon.) There were only a few pens, and feeding was done by hand. Elsewhere, in early July the Argentinian province of Tierra del Fuego became the first place on earth to ban open-pen salmon farms, thwarting the development of an industry in its waters. 62% of Independent/Other voters answered don't know/note sure, however more support (31%) than oppose (7%). 10 things you need to know before you buy farmed fish The Environmental Defenders Office, a non-profit community legal service, highlighted the conflict of interest at the heart of a system where the Minister for Primary Industries was responsible for both promoting the industry and regulating it. All companies must report feed usage data to Government on a quarterly basis. These figures make Tasmanias industry seem like a goldfish bowl. To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times. "If the Tasmanian government implements these recommendations, we will be on track to managing our marine resources sustainably.". Mr Trim said customers have been supportive of the move. The new Brazilian owners of one of Tasmania's major salmon producers, Huon Aquaculture, have a scandal-plagued history. o 62% of Independent/Other . According to the Norwegian Seafood Council, in 2019 Norway exported more than one million tonnes of farmed salmon to more than 100 countries, which represents 14 million meals of Norwegian salmon eaten every single day. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images. In the early decades of farming, Tasmanian salmon - a carnivore in the wild - were largely fed on anchovy-based fishmeal and fish oil imported from Peru. Castles is taking us a little further south to see one of the Atlantic salmon farms that have proliferated through the channel over recent decades, like clusters of pimples breaking out along the coast. I ask Amos about the expansion into Storm Bay and the concerns raised by independent scientists about the amount of fish to be produced there and the impact increased nutrients might have on the marine environment and on Hobarts main river, the Derwent, into which Storm Bay feeds. "We believe the companies are going to have to change their ways and in the end this is what it's all about," he said. The Environment | Salmon Farming Data Portal Sometimes I have McDonalds, and I know thats junk. I would say thats a direct link to the book, because I have not seen it before, Peak tells Good Weekend. A study published by The Australia Institute in 2019 estimated that this $1 billion industry paid about $920,000 to the state government in annual lease and licence fees. Tasmania's salmon industry must reform and be more transparent, parliamentary inquiry says. Key points: Farmed salmon levels in Macquarie Harbor were slashed after environmental concerns were raised in 2016 Oxygen levels in the harbour have improved but warming water temperatures are concerning marine scientists Tasmania's EPA will re-determine how much salmon can be farmed in Macquarie Harbour next May Which age group of men are the loneliest? He has possibly one of the hardest public relations jobs in Australia right now. Tasmania has specifically been impacted by salmon farming, with World Heritage area Macquarie Harbour having dead zones on the seafloor and deaths of nearly 1.35 million farmed fish, resulting in failure to comply with 19 requirements for certification. Set the ABC News website or the app to "TasmaniaTop Stories"from either the home page or the settings menu in the appto continue getting the same national news but with a sprinkle of more relevant state stories. Toxic has struck a chord in the state. And the biggest salmon producer, Tassal, said Macquarie Harbour is a sustainable waterway. The now $1 billion industry has sparked the ire of activists and locals living near salmon farms. A new generation of chefs, however, has taken note. a niche business, has grown into a full-scale industrial operation. In December 2019, WWF-Australia also commissioned Seafood Advisory, an independent seafood consultancy, to prepare a report to examine the circumstances surrounding the ecological impacts of expanded aquaculture operations in Macquarie Harbour. Noise from the site causes distress for the nearby Killora community.Credit: Adam Gibson. Set the ABC News website or the app to "TasmaniaTop Stories"from either the home page or the settings menu in the appto continue getting the same national news but with a sprinkle of more relevant state stories. The Environment Protection Authority is responsible for the environmental regulation of marine and land-based finfish farms in Tasmania. Richard Flanagan's 2021 book Toxic presented a different view. A social licence would only be returned, he said,if the salmon companies moved onto land-based farming with "proper, strong, independent regulation". This survey had surprising results, Yet another adverse coronial finding for Launceston General Hospital, Ambulance service employees face 'intolerable' workplace stress, coroner finds, Dresses made from paper a passion for Tasmanian artist Stephanie Reynolds, At 61, Jacqueline can't find a job. "I think that you'll find that there's quite a few dining rooms in Hobart in Tassie where they are in the same position, where they are not doing it [serving salmon]for the same reasons, because they are unsure," he said. The same week, mining boss Andrew Twiggy Forrest invested almost $20 million in the publicly-listed Huon, buying a 7.33 per cent share in the company, which had posted a $95.3 million loss for the six months ended December 31, 2020. Tasmania's salmon industry must reform and be more transparent Key points: A new report recommends a pause on expansion of fish farms in Tasmania while the aquaculture industry plan is revised The report found penalties for breaches of environmental regulations in Tasmania were lower than in other parts of the country and should be reviewed A date was set, re-set, cancelled. Farmed salmon has not been served at MONAsince 2017. In the dim morning light, the pens have a sinister beauty, appearing like rows of giant floating crowns, or huge trampolines at a strange water theme park. It looked, like, nuked or something, Meyer says. Tassalwas bought by Canadian seafood giant Cooke in 2022. Sue Graue from the Tasmanian Salmon Growers Association said many of the report's recommendations had already been implemented, including the pursuit of RAS hatcheries and development of a Marine Debris Code of Practice. About 400,000 people visit Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) every year, but they won't find Tasmanian salmon on the menu at any of its restaurants. 'Stop Eating Tasmanian Salmon' By Tasmanian Times Posted on April 22, 2021 Transcript of media conference with Andrew Wilkie (Federal Independent MP for Clark), Laura Kelly (Environment Tasmania), Peter George (TAMP), Essie Davis (Bruny Island), Sheenagh Neill (sailor), Mark Bishop (commercial fisher), Hobart dockside, 22 April 2021. "The aquaculture industry is far more responsive to its community than mining, which is the other major industry we have here," she said. Industry Operation | Salmon Farming Data Portal PDF Polling Salmon farming in Tasmania - The Australia Institute Barbie went from a stick-thin blonde to saris and nose rings. Which age group of men are the loneliest? Red Rating for Tasmanian Farmed Atlantic Salmon: Industry Pushing Salmon company Tassal told the stock exchange the book had been unsettling but did not detail its impact on sales or consumption of their product. The 'cruel measures' used by Tasmania's salmon farming industry Regulating Feed. The report recommended a review of the basis on which information could be withheld from the public under a claim of "commercial confidentiality". Im not an activist at all, and I respect people who are, but I have always taken the view that I could make better, more tangible change from the inside, Cherrie says. Key points: Mr Trim said a social licence could only be regained if salmon growers weremore open about their operations,"when it's transparent like the water should be". Tasmanian salmon industry faces major risks - The Australia Institute The final report recommended there be prescribed criteria on which the minister could reject a recommendation from the paneland that if they did, they be required to table a full justification of their reasons to parliament. Its been a busy week for the industry. Were working to restore it. salmon farming industry in Tasmania until issues raised in the inquiry have been resolved, 15% oppose. "The vulnerable underbelly of this industry is the Australian consumer from the mainland," Mr George said. Wild salmon gets its colour from astaxanthin naturally found in the small crustaceans it eats. 50% of Greens voters support, 17% oppose. In August 2016 the government ordered a reassessment of plans by Tassal, a publicly listed salmon farming company, to build 28 new farms at Okehampton Bay near Triabunna. As Flanagan outlines in Toxic, the fish are fed pellets containing synthetic astaxanthin, which gives the fish its peach-coloured flesh. Fish flesh dyed pink Some fish farms are trying to reduce the number of wild caught fish they use by substituting vegetables, chicken and other land animals into fish feed. Secret salmon farming expansion maps, attributed to the state government, show much of Tasmania's north and north-west coasts, along with sections of the east coast, could be made available to .
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