Salmon companies are ripping off Tasmania and trying to pass it off as yet another ‘jobs vs environment’ fight. This is the kind of fight that Tasmanian politicians love to have, and like performing seals, the Tasmanian government and opposition have lined up to bark and do their tricks.

But the fight over salmon farming is different. All three major companies are owned by multinational corporations. Tassal is owned by a major Canadian company and Petuna is owned by a Japanese-New Zealand corporation. The third main salmon company in Tasmania, Huon, is owned by JBS. JBS is a Brazilian corporation infamous for corruption. JBS’s bribery of Brazilian politicians played a big part in its expansion and its arrival in Tasmania.

These corporations literally want Tasmanians to accept their crap.

To be more precise, the poo and other discharge from salmon farms in Macquarie Harbour generates the same amount of nitrogen pollution as sewage discharged by a city of half a million people – that’s more than double Hobart’s.

Dumping the equivalent of two Hobart’s worth of sewage in a World Heritage-listed harbour has consequences. And the best-known is the impact on the Maugean skate, a stingray-like creature that has been around since the dinosaurs and lives nowhere else in the world.

Extinction bells have been tolling for some time for the skate. Scientific advice to the Australian Government is unequivocal that salmon farming is the key threat to its survival.

Top Australian independent scientists have confirmed this. This unique animal is recognised internationally as one of the natural values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area because of its direct linkages to Gondwana.

These scientists have also told us how to save the skate: stop salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour.

What would happen if salmon farms were removed from Macquarie Harbour?

According to the salmon companies’ own documents there are 109 salmon farming workers on the West Coast, some of which are drive in-drive out. State-wide there are around 1,500 jobs in the salmon industry. Excuse the maths, but the salmon jobs in Macquarie Harbour make up just 7% of the industry. The salmon industry itself makes up less than 1% of Tasmanian jobs.

Such a small change can be easily managed by the salmon industry and governments. Ending salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour would make zero financial difference to Tasmanian or Australian Governments, because the salmon industry pays no tax. According to Australian Tax Office data, no company tax has paid by Tasmanian salmon farms since 2019, despite selling over $4 billion worth of fish in that time. Free pollution, few jobs, no tax.

Despite spin from the industry and Tasmanian Government, Australia Institute polling shows that seven out of 10 Tasmanians want fish farms out of sheltered, inshore waters.

This mirrors the 2022 Tasmanian Parliamentary inquiry recommendation and would include Macquarie Harbour. When we asked Franklin voters – the heartland of salmon farming – whether they support stopping fish farming in Macquarie Harbour, 56% said they did. The majority of Australians (58%) across the political spectrum support stopping fish farming in areas where it is putting the Maugean skate at risk of extinction.

All Australia Institute polling and research is available on our website. This cannot be said for the salmon industry, which refuses to publish its recent EMRS poll or the Deloitte report its exaggerated jobs claims are based on.

According to our polling, Tasmanians, and Australians more broadly, support what the science is telling us we need to do: stop salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour. They want the skate to survive. They don’t want World Heritage listed harbours filled with fish poo to benefit tax-shy foreign companies.

This is a real case of industry spin and political calculations against a unique species and the community interest.

Salmon companies are ripping off Tasmania and Tasmanians know it.