In August, The Australia Institute welcomed the Tasmanian Liberal Party’s promise to conduct an independent study into the salmon industry, pausing marine expansion while the review is carried out.

However, the Tasmanian Government’s Terms of Reference were finalised without public consultation. Moreover, the entire study will not provide any recommendations.

The Australia Institute has been conducting research into the salmon industry for a decade. It shows 7 in 10 Tasmanians support the 2022 Parliamentary Inquiry to reduce inshore fish farming and to stop it altogether in sensitive, sheltered, and biodiverse areas.

“The Terms of Reference were developed in secret, with no public consultation and amount to a stitch up for the foreign-owned salmon industry in Tasmania,” said Eloise Carr, director of The Australia Institute Tasmania.

“Unless they are changed and truly independent reviewers are appointed, the study risks being a complete waste of time and tax-payer money.

“The science is clear – we know the harm this industry is doing in its current form in Tasmania and globally. This study had the opportunity to deliver on the findings of previous inquiries, including the Tasmanian Parliamentary Inquiry, by recommending how to change the way this industry operates.

“But the current Terms of Reference will not deliver this, unless they are changed to focus on stopping the vast amounts of pollution this industry creates, by moving it out of coastal waterways and into land-based recirculating aquaculture systems, as is being done elsewhere.”