Founder of Huon Aquaculture Peter Bender. Photo: Stock File)

Huon continues legal battle at court over salmon farming

Salmon company Huon Aquaculture is taking federal court action against a 2012 Federal Government decision to allow fish farming to expand in Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania's west coast.

Rival companies Petuna and Tassal are parties to the case, and support the decision adopted by the then federal minister for the environment, ABC News reported.

According to Huon’s Executive Director, Frances Bender, low oxygen levels are to blame for the environmental issues in the area that caused the reduction in salmon specimens. Therefore, he has called for more aggressive caps on the amount of salmon that can be farmed in the harbour.

However, Tasmanian court has heard that the legal action over salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour has been motivated by a bitter dispute over profits and not the harbour's environmental health.

Tasmania's three big salmon companies have been battling in the Federal Court this week, after Huon lodged legal proceedings about fish stock levels in the harbour.

Tassal's barrister Shaun McElwaine argued that since 2012, Huon had consistently complained about the allotment of stock in the harbour, and felt it had been discriminated against, with Tassal benefiting financially.

McElwaine thinks that the legal action had been initiated under the guise of environmental concerns, but was motivated by profits.

"This is a fight between you and Tassal and Petuna," he said.

But Bender insists it is “for the purposes of saving the environment before it blows up.

The exchange came as an updated report on the harbour's health was released by the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, which found oxygen levels in the harbour were still very low, resulting in a reduction in the fauna that live on the seabed.

"Whilst the latest survey indicates that the rate of recovery observed in the last survey has not been sustained, it does still suggest that there is capacity for recovery," the report said.

The Environment Protection Authority has reduced the fish cap to 12,000 tonnes to allow the harbour to recover, but Tassal has been permitted to go over that level by 4,000 tonnes if it captures the salmon's waste.

There is currently about 7,000 tonnes of salmon in Macquarie Harbour, down from 13,500 in December after the companies conducted harvesting.

Some of the reduction is due to fish deaths resulting from a virus and a storm.
 

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