The Greens released their plan for single regulator for Australia's fish farm industry and the establishment of a national Environmental Protection Authority to enforce federal regulations on Wednesday. 

A poll conducted by the Australia Institute in March this year showed the majority of respondents supported either federal regulation or federal oversight of state regulation for the fish farming industry.

Australian Greens leader senator Richard Di Natale said this policy would give people a greater say in what happens in their local waterways, and help look after the marine environment. 

"A national Environmental Protection Authority regulating fish farming is long overdue and would deliver greater transparency and less environmental damage," Senator Di Natale said. 

"That agency will ensure that we have the right regulatory framework so that the industry can continue to grow in a way that is sustainable," Senator Di Natale said. 

"We are seeing an explosion in industrial fish farming here in Tasmania.

"We are seeing an industry that is not guided by science, where the regulations are not keeping up with the scale of the growth in the industry and its about time the federal government stepped in and set up a federal regulator.

"We need to put a stop on expansion in the fish farm industry." 

Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim said failures in the industry have caused serious environmental harm and a loss of community trust in the sector. 

"There should be an immediate moratorium on fish farm expansion in Tasmania until we get the science and regulatory framework right," Senator McKim said. 

"Communities have been cut out of the process and it is people, and coastal communities, and our marine environment that is suffering. 

"We are facing a massive privatisation of coastal waterways in Tasmania - taking it from the commons and handing it over to the corporates. 

"We need to make sure coastal communities get a say." 

Senator McKim said for the sake of the industry, salmon farmers need to make sure they have a social license. 

"The industry needs to understand that it is in the process of losing its social license here and that will result in significant negative impacts for the aquaculture industry," he said. 

"To generate community support, and help that industry deliver and get a social license, we need to have strong regulations so that the community has trust in the industry." 

Tasman Peninsula resident Bec Howarth said salmon farming expansions she has seen in Port Arthur and Nubeena had a noticeable impact on the community. 

"The community consultation process has been really lacking," Ms Howarth said. 

"Many residents are now complaining about 24 hour disturbance from noise and light pollution, visual pollution and we are also seeing changes in our water quality. 

"Many of us have noticed there is an increase in filamentous algae on the beaches we have been taking our children to swim. 

"In these areas that were once clear, blue water we are now noticing a definite green tinge. 

Ms Howarth said lessons that should have been learned at Macquarie Harbour have not been learned. 

"The industry is being allowed to expand too fast without current issues really being resolved," she said. 

"I implore the federal government to support a moratorium on fish farm expansions in Tasmania and to put in place federal regulations on the fish farming industry as a whole."  

Braddon MHA Joan Rylah said the state government supports the salmon industry and the jobs it creates. 

"The announcement by the Greens today shows that, once again, they are trying to put a stop to job creation and sustainable growth in a major industry," Ms Rylah said.