With a new report, an independent panel has given the go-ahead to Tassal’s contentious Okehampton Bay site.
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The Marine Farm Planning Review Panel included marine scientists and marine farming and fisheries management experts.
In August 2016, Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff requested the panel submit a report to him by February 2017.
Mr Rockliff said the report “debunk[ed]” claims from “green groups” that the Okehampton Bay site would not be sustainable.
He stressed that the state government had long said it would be “guided” by science in regard to salmon farming.
“I now call on those opposed to this proposal to abide by the independent umpire’s decision,” he said.
Environmental groups had argued that the waters at the prospective salmon farming site were too warm and too shallow to sustain farming activity long-term.
But the panel came to the conclusion that neither claim was supported by evidence.
The report’s terms of reference were largely centred on the Great Oyster Bay and Mercury Passage Marine Farming Development Plan October 1998, which was reviewed in 2007.
The panel was tasked with determining whether or not the science of the respective plan supported the establishment of the Okehampton Bay site.
It was also required to determine whether or not the plan sufficiently allowed for an environmental management regime.
While the panel did reject the idea that the waters at the prospective site were too warm and too shallow for farming, it acknowledged that contemporary baseline data on the site was “advisable”.
Greens environment spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said the panel was “hand-picked”, and thus could not be trusted to deliver an objective conclusion.
“There was nothing truly independent about the panel making decisions on the future of Okehampton Bay,” Ms Woodruff said.
“It was designed by industry, for industry's short-term gain.”
Environment Tasmania strategy director Laura Kelly agreed with Ms Woodruff, saying the panel had “no independent powers”.
She criticised the government for supposedly failing to properly regulate Tassal.
A spokesman for Tassal welcomed the panel’s findings, but said the company would not release a statement on the matter until Friday.
On Thursday night, SCS Global Services, who were responsible for auditing Tassal, held a public meeting at Salamanca Inn in Battery Point.
Tasmania’s Environmental Protection Authority instructed SCS to conduct the audit, after observing a spate of non-compliance incidents at Tassal’s Macquarie Harbour site.
