Tasmania's environmental regulator says conditions are improving in Macquarie Harbour, home to the endangered maugean skate. But while the industry says it's proof the current approach is working, environmentalists are still lobbying for an end to salmon farming in the harbour.
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00:00 Beneath these waters is a species at risk of extinction.
00:06 But Tasmania's environmental regulator says conditions are improving for the endangered
00:11 Morgian skate.
00:12 The harbour is in the best position it has been since the EPA took over regulatory control
00:18 in 2016.
00:20 Macquarie Harbour is home to big salmon farms.
00:24 Scientists say they're the main cause of the skate's population decline, along with climate
00:28 change and hydroelectric operations.
00:31 In January, sea floor conditions near salmon pens met the regulator's standards at all
00:36 monitoring stations.
00:38 We have learnt from the past, looked at things, adjusted things and we now have the monitoring
00:45 telling us that things are in good shape.
00:48 And at the depths where the skate prefers to live, oxygen levels have been above target
00:53 over the past year.
00:54 But they fell short at half of the monitoring stations at deeper levels, where the skate
00:59 occasionally lays its eggs.
01:01 Everyone accepts it will take a while for the harbour to restore or recover to what
01:07 it was pre-2012.
01:09 The industry is hopeful a giant underwater bubbler will further improve conditions in
01:14 the harbour.
01:15 But despite 18 skates hatching in a captive breeding program, environmentalists say there's
01:21 only one long-term solution.
01:24 It is still as under threat as it has ever been and this industry needs to get out of
01:31 the harbour and it needs to get out quickly because that's what the science says.
01:35 We don't understand why the oxygen levels have gone up.
01:39 It's quite likely that it was the result of a natural event of inwelling of waters from
01:45 the ocean.
01:47 Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is shifting through two and a half thousand submissions
01:51 before deciding whether to review if salmon farming should be allowed in the harbour.
01:56 The state government and opposition both support the industry and are urging the minister not
02:01 to put jobs at risk.
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