In an extraordinary intervention, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has bypassed environment laws and overridden his Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, vowing to introduce special new laws that will allow foreign-owned salmon companies to keep farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.

One-third of Macquarie Harbour is World Heritage. It is the only home of the Maugean skate,  an endangered marine species recognised for its world heritage value because of its direct lineage to Gondwana, the dinosaur era. . Evidence shows that salmon farming operations in the harbour are "almost certain" to be "catastrophic" for the skate, according to the scientists that advise the Australian Government.

This evidence is being reviewed by the Environment Minister, according to our environmental protection laws. But now, the Prime Minister’s intervention disregards the science, due process, and community concerns in favour of the vested interests of the salmon farming industry.

Macquarie Harbour is not just any body of water. It's an extraordinary, unique habitat.

The Australian Government has the power to put science ahead of the salmon industry's profits and protect the skate before it becomes extinct.   

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WATCH

Federal Fisheries Minister Julie Collins dismissed the petition, signed by more than 10,000 people in under a month, as a 'stunt'. Australia Institute Tasmania Director, Eloise Carr, described the science showing the impact of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour is catastrophic for the endagered Maugean skate.

YOUR IMPACT

• Thanks to our supporters, the Australia Institute Tasmania’s work was critical to triggering a federal EPBC review of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour.
• In 2023, we wrote to the federal Environment Minister with new scientific evidence showing the endangered Maugean skate, a ray-like animal, is at risk of extinction due in large part to salmon farming.
• In November 2023, the Minister announced a review of salmon farming in the Macquarie Harbour by the Federal Government, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
• National environment law requires a decision from federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek ‘as soon as practicable'. Yet the Minister has had 12 months and there is still no outcome.
• In 2025, the Australia Institute and 13 other organisations, including the Bob Brown Foundation and NW TAS for Clean Oceans, published a letter to UNESCO asking for a World Heritage Mission to visit Tasmania in 2025, highlighting the plight of the endangered Maugean skate and requesting their assistance to prevent its extinction.

ABOUT THE MAUGEAN SKATE

• The Maugean skate is listed as Endangered under both state and federal legislation and is found only in Macquarie Harbour; one third of Macquarie Harbour is within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and the skate is one of the values of the World Heritage Area.
• Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has recommended increasing the threat level faced by the skate from endangered to critically endangered.
• With fewer than 1000 skates left, it’s more important than ever for Macquarie Harbour to recover so that the skate can survive in its only natural habitat.
• The IMAS report and other research published since this decision (summarised in our letter), confirms fish farms are having a significant impact on the Maugean skate. Fish farming is having the most detrimental impact on dissolved oxygen in the water, pushing the Maugean skate towards extinction due to lack of oxygen. Macquarie Harbour has unusual hydrodynamics, and the regulation of hydro-electric dam releases is a secondary concern because it can prevent natural reoxygenation. Gillnetting, extreme weather and climate change are adding to the threats, but the primary problem is the lack of oxygen caused by pollution from fish farming.
• The Conservation Advice for the Maugean skate, clearly identifies fish farming in Macquarie harbour as causing the main impact on the endangered Maugean skate. It says:
  – The highest priority conservation action is to “eliminate or significantly reduce the impacts of salmonid aquaculture on dissolved oxygen concentrations.”
  – It says the fastest and simplest way to achieve this is to significantly reduce fish biomass.
  – This is an urgent priority to be actioned before this summer (2023-24).
• No salmon farming proposal has ever been called in and assessed under national environmental laws.

MASS SALMON DIE-OFF (Warning: Distressing content)

There have been multiple media reports of rotting, dead salmon washing up on beaches and in pens in the shallow, coastal waters of the Tasman Peninsula and the Huon (19 Feb 2025). These distressing images and video footage are courtesy of the Bob Brown Foundation.