Earlier this year the company signalled it would dump fish waste near the Macquarie Harbour heads, a move which the West Coast Council was not happy with.

However Tassal announced on Monday that it will be sending the liquids filtered from the fish waste to TasWater, and is looking into using the solid waste as agricultural fertiliser.

The solution was welcomed by Elise Archer, Minister for Environment and Parks. 

“I welcome Tassal’s decision not to proceed with their application to pump treated waste into Macquarie Harbour,” she said.

“I had made it clear that I was not comfortable with the previous proposal and that it was outside of community expectations.  I am very pleased Tassal has … come up with an alternative proposal.”

West Coast Council Mayor Phil Vickers said the council was pleased with the outcome that waste would not be discharged into or outside, the harbour. 

Tassal chief executive and managing director Mark Ryan said, “Taswater is the waste water management expert in Tasmania and the company is pleased to partner with it on this water solution.”

“The filtrate water will comprise 0.5 per cent of daily outflow through a co-disposal system located at Pardoe, near Devonport,” he said.

Mr Ryan said the waste capture system had consistently captured and removed about 75 per cent of waste, leaving filtrate water for Taswater.  

“We have 100 per cent regulatory compliance of our farms in Macquarie Harbour,” he said.