Fish farming has ‘already lost’ battle

THE salmon industry is making the same mistakes as forestry before it — and will suffer the same fate, former Labor premier David Bartlett says.

His comments came as an opinion poll showed strong community concern over the expansion of fish farms.

A UComms poll of 1023 Tasmanian voters commissioned by the Australia Institute revealed 63 per cent of respondents were concerned the health of the state’s coastal waters was declining and 56 per cent agreed that the state government was not doing enough to protect the health of the ocean.

The poll was taken the day of the release of a highly critical book, Toxic, by Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan.

Mr Bartlett told the Mercury he did not have an opinion about the rights and wrongs of the debate but said he could see already how it would end.

“The salmon industry have already lost this debate. History is repeating itself. It is over already,” he wrote on Twitter. “They are taking the same ham-fisted, boofheaded approach that Hydro took in the eighties, and Forestry/Gunns took in the nineties-noughties.

“The opponents are taking a well structured, well-crafted approach. We know how this ends.

“The Minister refusing to go into the media. The industry body refusing to talk to the media. The companies taking a F-you approach. They’ve lost already. The debate may rage for another 20 years but they have lost already.”

The Australia Institute poll also showed that 63 per cent of respondents supported a halt to the expansion of salmon farms until current inquiries and reviews were complete.

The director of the Australia Institute Tasmania Eloise Carr said the poll showed people were looking to government for greater leadership on the issue.

“There is clear appetite from Tasmanians for more government action on the health of our oceans, in fact our research shows most Tasmanians think the government isn’t doing enough to protect the health of our ocean,” she said.

“Without a more comprehensive approach, Tasmanian industries which rely on a healthy ocean will begin to suffer and Tasmania’s economic interests as a whole will suffer in the short to medium term.”

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said Mr Bartlett was right and the industry needed to act fast to survive.

“The only way out of this mess is for the Labor and Liberal party to support the science, to listen to the scientists and to come on board with moving the salmon industry in Tasmania on land to closedloop systems,” she said.

“It’s entirely up to the salmon industry how it chooses to respond and it is entirely up to the Labor and Liberal parties to listen to the scientists, to understand why that book was written. It was written in a cry of anger and defiance.”

THEY ARE TAKING THE SAME HAM-FISTED, BOOFHEADED APPROACH THAT HYDRO TOOK IN THE EIGHTIES, AND FORESTRY/ GUNNS TOOK IN THE NINETIES-NOUGHTIES

DAVID BARTLETT