Former Greens leader Christine Milne has hit out at the future sustainability of the aquaculture industry, claiming that fish farms must move onshore to remain viable.
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Currently, salmon are hatched and grown on land by Tasmanian fish farmers, before being transported to open waters.
Acting chief executive of Petuna Aquaculture David Wood said it would not be economically viable for the entire process to be shifted onshore.
However, the former Greens leader believes the issue will come to prominence in Tasmania over the next decade.
“With global warming and over-fishing, we're seeing the collapse of the natural fisheries around the world,” she said.
“As the waters warm, you're going to see a greater level of disease and you're going to see more antibiotics and more colouring. I think there's going to be a big debate, and it's always been my view, that we should bring aquaculture onshore.
“Whoever does that first will be the leading light.”
Petuna Aquaculture currently has a salmon farming capacity of about 8000 tonnes, with half of the farming cycle taking place on land.
Mr Wood said energy costs, and emissions, would balloon out-of-control if Petuna moved its entire operation onshore.
“The problem with onshore aquaculture is in terms of scale – it's just not viable at this point in time,” he said.
“In particular, the energy costs are not feasible, which is something in Tasmania we're all conscious of.
“We see the current trend toward high energy and offshore being a sustainable solution, while also growing larger fish at the hatchery just to get the balance between on land and marine site life cycles.”
Ms Milne’s calls come on the back of a 2016 Four Corners report that found fish farming had caused harm to adjacent wild sea creatures in Tasmania.
However, deputy head of UTAS’ Fisheries and Aquaculture Centre at the Institute for Marine and Antartic Studies Catriona Macleod said onshore farming was not a silver bullet solution to the potential adverse effects of aquaculture.
“It’s very true that the requirement for seafood is ramping up worldwide and that cannot be met by wild fisheries alone,” she said. “Consequently we need aquaculture to fill the gap.
“There will be some environmental impacts with all forms of aquaculture, so it is not appropriate to suggest there's no effect with land based aquaculture.
“If you're farming fish, they will produce waste and that doesn't change if they're on land or on water.”