The Tasmanian Greens will lobby for a complete ban on near-shore salmon farms on the East and North-West coasts of Tasmania.
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Under a motion passed at the party’s state conference, farms would be banned on the East Coast from Cape Portland to Tasman Island Lighthouse.
The Greens are also calling for a moratorium on any new salmon farms and the expansion of existing farms “until such time as the industry is truly sustainable and properly regulated in the public interest”.
The motion called for an independent review of finfish aquaculture, and moving the regulations to the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act, allowing for “proper public consultation and appeals process”.
With Tassal expanding its operations on the East Coast with about 30 pens and infrastructure at Okehampton Bay, the expansion of farms around the state have divided the community.
Greens’ leader Cassy O’Connor promised protection of the “precious marine environment” from the “rampant expansion of industrial fish farming”.
“We need to be listening to communities who’ve been ignored for far too long.”
