This follows the release of a report by leftist think-tank the Australia Institute which said up to 7500 Tasmanian jobs could become threatened by oil spills as the result of drilling in the bight.

The report said a total of 7413 Tasmanian jobs were at risk - 5300 in tourism and 2113 in aquaculture and fisheries.

TICT chief executive Luke Martin said any issue like an oil spill would have some impact, however the institute's findings were a "pretty extreme" number.

"It's one in five people who work in the industry - it's hard to take that seriously," Mr Martin said.

"If there was an oil spill in the middle of the Derwent River, I'd maybe think that would have an impact.

"In the scheme of the medium to long-term risks to the tourism industry in Tasmania, I'm more conscious of how we are going to mitigate the threats of climate change."

Resources Minister Guy Barnett declined to comment on the report.

"I'm not going to comment on hypothetical scenarios cooked up the anti-everything Australia Institute, whose reports are renowned for misrepresenting data to achieve a predetermined, anti-industry position," Mr Barnett said.

Australia Institute SA project manager Noah Schultz-Byard said the report shows the economic and environmental costs of a major oil spill in the Great Australian Bight would be enormous.

If an oil spill were to occur, the report said over 27,000 jobs across Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria would be at risk.

"While Bass Strait is the area most likely to be affected, the modelled oil spill could potentially bracket Tasmania, leaving only the East Coast unaffected," the report said.

Exploratory drilling for oil and gas by Norwegian oil company Equinor is scheduled to begin in the bight in late 2020.

"Equinor have already had 239 oil spills in their history and, according to their own modelling, a major incident in the Bight would cover thousands of kilometres of the Australian coastline," Mr Schultz-Byard said.