Ms O’CONNOR – Noting that this is about environmental assessment. After the 2025 salmon mortality event. The EPA commenced an investigation into the event. Including:
Various investigative actions are being used to determine the facts. In fact, chemical analysis of deceased fish and oily material, inspections of fish farm activities and offshore and land-based facilities where deceased fish are handled and assessment of salmon company mortality reports and information.
Would it be possible to provide the committee with an update on the investigation and can we confirm the outcome of this investigation will be made public?
Ms MURDOCH – Yes, the outcome of all of our investigations are, but it’s still underway and it is related to the release of controlled waste into the environment. That is the investigation that is underway, because that is what we regulate. I am sure you all know this, it’s not appropriate for me to comment on it until the active investigation has completed so I don’t finish that ongoing matter, but we are finalising that investigation.
Ms O’CONNOR – This event, from memory, happened in February and March of this year? That’s now some nine months ago. I understand all government and statutory authorities has resourcing pressures, but that’s nine months, where people who live along the southern beaches have had no answers basically about their summer.
Is this going to be one of those situations where we are at the table next year and the investigation is still ongoing?
Ms MURDOCH – I can’t tell you, because obviously in regard to judicial matters they take time. They take time to prepare a case, and it will be ultimately; we will put this up to the DPP for decision. Those processes ‑ we don’t actually control over those timeframes.
CHAIR – It’s not being held up by you though.
Ms MURDOCH – Completely not. No. Absolutely not and happy to have that absolutely on the record. My team has done a really thorough job in regard to all avenues of evidence. What can be included to get this investigation finished. Yes, it had started when I was there, and it’s just taken time to [inaudible] that into an appropriate case file.
Ms O’CONNOR – Can I ask then without you having to give anything away necessarily in terms of time: is the investigation near completion?
Ms MURDOCH – Yes, it is.
Ms O’CONNOR – OK. Can you help me understand what the pathway is here. The investigation is completed, there were significant impacts, there may well be referral to the Director of Public Prosecutions. What is the pathway – if you like – if it’s to go to the DPP, does any minister sit in there?
Ms MURDOCH – No.
Ms O’CONNOR – Would any industry people be notified?
Ms MURDOCH – No. I have an exceptionally qualified internal legal team, which I’m thankful for. They do an amazing job. This is our case; this is what we will put forward. This is no interference in this process whatsoever.
Ms O’CONNOR – OK. Well, that’s reassuring, given the history of this island.
Ms O’CONNOR – Just today, was it, that we have a copy of the Reflections and Learnings 2025 Salmon Mortality Event –
Ms MURDOCH – Today?
CHAIR – No, that was a week or two ago.
Ms MURDOCH – I think it was a few weeks ago.
CHAIR – Who would know?
Ms O’CONNOR – It’s the first time a hard copy has got into my hand. I am thinking, wow, amazing.
Ms MURDOCH – Happy to provide you with hard copies of these.
CHAIR – There was a briefing on it.
Ms O’CONNOR – I wasn’t briefed on this.
Ms MURDOCH – There was a briefing we did to members. I am sure it was three weeks ago.
CHAIR – It probably is three or four weeks ago to be fair.
Ms O’CONNOR – In terms of the learnings and what kind of actions the EPA can undertake to prevent that sort of salmon mortality event in the future. What kind of reassurance can the EPA provide – not that this sits on your head, by the way. Not that it does – to residents of all coastal areas that, some actions being taken, we’re not going to have another repeat.
Ms MURDOCH – In the time that that was being done, the team certainly have not sat on its hands, and we’ve been doing things. I think importantly, what will be in place for the first time, this summer, is in accordance with – because we’ve been rolling out the environmental standards. They are an extraordinary document in regard to what we are bringing and the changes to the management of the industry in this space. Part 4 of that is already in place-
Mr COOK – Some of part four, not all of it.
Ms MURDOCH – Part 5 are the additional things we’re adding to environmental licences. And one of those that will be the first time this year is waste management plans. Now those waste management, they’re currently being prepared. We’re getting those into final stages, those plans address the management of all specified waste but including mortality.
That will outline for us how much waste and different scenarios of waste at levels and also matching to ensure that infrastructure for waste management of mortalities is in place so we can say yes, there is a statewide network at any of these scenarios, we understand that waste will be managed.
There are other things that we are doing, and we’ve kicked the process off yesterday of varying licences.
Mr COOK -Yes absolutely, first one has been out.
Ms MURDOCH – They’re obviously out for consultation, but what we’re looking to do there is to actually have stricter language around the removal of mortalities from pens. It was quite a vague licence condition before. We’re putting a time frame on that of quite a strict time frame.
Ms O’CONNOR – Tell us about it.
Ms MURDOCH – We’re out for consultation.
Mr COOK – It’s out for statutory consultation.
Ms O’CONNOR – If it’s out for statutory consultation its public.
Ms MURDOCH – No, it’s to the licence holder under the act.
Ms O’CONNOR – To both companies or all companies?
Mr COOK – To all licence holders.
Ms MURDOCH – Yes, but it’s statutory under the act.
Mr COOK – It’s because it’s a variation of a licence at, at the directors volition. We have a statutory step where we have to consult the licence holder.
CHAIR – You don’t have to agree with them though.
Ms MURDCOH – No, but we have to consult.
Ms O’CONNOR – What would be best practice then, for example, in terms of.
Ms MURDOCH – In summer we’re proposing a 24-hour removal. That’s absolutely a learning out of that. Let’s get them out of the pens, let’s ensure that we’ve actually got a waste infrastructure network that can cope with this. Also, the assessment team has been working with the waste sector to assess and get licences into place for increased volume as well.
Those things have been happening.
Mr COOK – That’s based on when the water’s warm, you get very rapid decomposition and like I say the companies, if they have evidence, they can put something else to us.
CHAIR – Do you have the capacity then to ask them also to de-stock?
Ms MURDOCH – No.
Ms O’CONNOR – Who can do that?
Mr COOK – The concept that has come up through the debrief process has been called emergency harvest and through the debrief process Salmon Tasmania is to develop a code of practice so that could be addressed in the industry code of practice.
Ms MURDOCH – Stocking rates and those things obviously that is in biosecurity and in their biosecurity standards. One of the greatest learnings out of this whole process was us as agencies understanding our statutory roles and our processes and where there is potential duplication and crossover and getting better at that and sharing information amongst ourselves. That was actually a positive outcome of that.
My team are already out on the water with the biosecurity team a lot more and we’re looking at how we can align our compliance activities in a much more efficient, effective way.
Ms O’CONNOR – Can I just understand better what an emergency harvest is?
CHAIR – Destocking.
Mr COOK – Yes, it’s another word for destocking.
Ms O’CONNOR – Emergency harvest is de-stocking. It doesn’t mean take the fish out and prepare them like you’d harvest other foods, does it? The broad English language definition of harvest is to pick to feed people, we’re not talking about emergency harvesting.
Ms MURDOCH – It’s not a recommendation in the report that’s being progressed and whether or not industry includes that in the code of practice, I’m not aware of.
Ms O’CONNOR – Is the EPA feed into that code of practice which is being written by the industry to govern its own actions.
Ms MURDOCH – They’re not governing their own actions, because our regulation still stands. They can write a code of practice and lots of industries have a code of practice. There’s no issue with an industry going, these are the standards we’re going to hold ourselves to. That does not inform our regulatory processes. As we’re saying we are getting on and introducing all the technical standards. We have the schedule to get them in place under the environmental standards and into licensed conditions.
The raft of changes that are coming into this industry because, in our space, because of the environmental standards, is changing things a lot. We’ve got the new conditions already in for noise vessel, basically mitigation, which we’ve already worked with the companies and have had infringements and we’re working with the companies on actually using that condition and to improve noise vessel. There is a lot that has already come in, but we are progressively going through the introduction of the technical standards as well, and that will not change because of a code of practice.
Ms O’CONNOR – Has the EPA had any regulatory role in Macquarie Harbour recently?
Ms MURDOCH – We have an ongoing role.
Ms O’CONNOR – No, on ground: have there been any incidents or matters that the EPA has needed to provide oversight or examine in relation to finfish farming in Macquarie Harbour?
CHAIR – Respond to, perhaps.
Ms MURDOCH – No.
Mr COOK – Not incidents-wise: we’re over there doing monitoring on a regular basis, we –
Ms MURDOCH – Our ongoing role with the environmental licences over there, and our water quality monitoring and all those are ongoing. We haven’t had any incidents for Macquarie Harbour.
Mr COOK – We receive regular seabed video surveys and that kind of thing for assessment. We’re in regular communication around the oxygenation requirements in Macquarie Harbour, so there’s regular communication.
