A delegation of salmon industry stakeholders will travel to Canberra to meet with politicians over the future of aquaculture in Macquarie Harbour. Environment minister Tanya Plibersek last year cast doubt over continued fin fish farming in the harbour due to increased concerns for the endangered and endemic Maugean skate, with a recent report recommending the status of the species being moved to critically endangered.
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00:00Salmon industry worker Adam Saltmarsh is fearful of his future.
00:07For nine months, the Federal Environment Minister has been reconsidering salmon farming licences at Macquarie Harbour, where he works.
00:16I feel that we'd have to leave the West Coast to pursue work, which means uprooting my family and my kids from the school.
00:24They don't want to leave.
00:26He's taking his concerns to Canberra, along with local mayors, salmon company representatives and the union.
00:33We want to make sure that everyone knows what the industry means to the West Coast and also the wider Tasmania.
00:41Macquarie Harbour is the Morgean Skate's only home. Its population has declined by about half since 2014.
00:50And industrial salmon farming is considered the main culprit.
00:54Just last week, scientists advising the Federal Government reported that eliminating or significantly reducing salmon in the harbour was the quickest way to prevent the skate's extinction.
01:06We know that the skate is at risk and salmon fish farming is placing them at risk and needs to end in Macquarie Harbour.
01:13But we support action also for the workers who are in that industry.
01:19There have been scientific efforts to increase skate numbers, including a trial pumping highly concentrated bubbles of oxygen into the harbour,
01:27and a captive breeding program, which celebrated the hatching of its first skate last week.
01:33Despite no decision on salmon licences having yet been made, the Tasmanian government is suspicious.
01:40They're ready to kill it off because of their efforts to gain green votes in Melbourne and Sydney.
01:47This is a political play. Let's make no bones about that.
01:51A spokesperson for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says the government is carefully considering the information and scientific advice.
01:59They say people on all sides of the debate would agree the decision needs to be evidence based and legally sound.