The Liberals’ guidelines for a new sardine and other small fish fishery are just more greenwashing from a government hell-bent on plundering Tasmanian waters for salmon feed.
The proposed sardine fishery guidelines contain just general nothing statements, with no firm commitments on what the Liberals would actually do to make a new industry sustainable.
IMAS research shows the proximity of Tasmania’s aquaculture industry provides an additional important market for a sardine and small fish industry that other Australian sardine fisheries don’t have. In what world is it environmentally sustainable to deplete wild sardine and small fish populations to make salmon feed?
This is an industry that has polluted Tasmanian waters and pushed the Maugean skate to the brink of extinction. This weekend several hundred Tasmanians rose up to express outrage at the damage this industry has wrought on Tasmanian waters.
Massive-scale fishing operations have proven to have terrible effects on marine life, with other small and large fish, dolphins and seals ending up as bycatch.
Tasmanians have consistently been clear their marine waters are precious and must be protected. The Liberal Government should stop greenwashing a new fishing industry that, on the face of it, looks set to deplete an essential part of the marine food chain to feed farmed salmon.
