Crap Circles
A crop circle is a pattern created by the flattening of a crop, usually a cereal. Though some consider them the work of aliens, they are in fact created by the wind or pranksters with too much time on their hands. While crop circles can occur almost anywhere in the world, the D'Entrecasteux Channel in Southern Tasmania is home to circles of a different kind – crap circles.
Considered by some to also be the work of aliens.
I fly over the channel frequently and have stopped counting at 300. Each plastic circle holds anywhere up to 120,000 fish at various stages of growth. A production line. Fingerlings going in, fillets coming out. The fish is known as Salmo Salar, being Latin for 'leaping salmon'.
Not only do they leap a lot, they also crap a lot. The Tasmanian salmon industry has a production target of 80,000 tonnes per annum (TPA), and it takes around 1.73kg of feed - harvested wild fish, along with poultry remnants, and a cocktail of chemicals - to grow 1kg of salmon.
That many fish produce more anally than a city of one million people does annually!
Thing is, there's no flush button. It just sits there. Should we be worried? Well, think about this, the biggest lease in the state is in Macquarie Harbour and is next door to a World Heritage Area. Due to overstocking it's officially declared a 'dead zone'.
Macquarie Harbour salmon pens AKA crap circles
Salmo Salar is also known as Atlantic Salmon, which is a fair indication that it's not a native of the Southern Ocean. Their natural habitat covers an area of the North Atlantic from as far south as Spain, north to Russia, and west to Canada. Each year, adults spawn in river beds feeding into the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea before returning to sea. After hatching, the juveniles reside in their natal river for up to two years before commencing their annual migratory cycle. The oldest salmon is recorded as fifteen years of age and the largest ever caught was some fifty kilograms.
Representing one hell of a lot of Omega 3 fillets on a barbie!
Atlantic Salmon first arrived in Tasmania in the early 1860s. Not by swimming, but on a timber ship driven by the wind. Their ova were collected from streams throughout England and Scotland as part of a business venture. As an afterthought, trout ova were included in the consignment that was packed in wooden crates and covered with charcoal, moss, and ice, to keep them alive during the three month voyage. Upon arrival, the ova were hatched at the purpose built Salmon Ponds, on the Plenty River just north of New Norfolk. When released, the salmon did what salmon do, they swam out to sea and headed back to the North Atlantic.
The trout, however, were on a different mission. Being a freshwater fish, they headed up the River Derwent. Seeing the opportunity to create a wild fishery, milk urns full of fingerlings were then transported by horseback into Tasmania's central highlands and released into the vast network of rivers and lakes. During the summer months this highland region is subjected to huge hatches of insects and the young trout grew rapidly - gorging themselves to the gills on bugs. They'd landed in Trout Nirvana.
The motivation behind stocking the lakes and rivers with trout, was to supply the prey for a predator. Another species from the North Atlantic; one with a piscatorial bent and a rod. And the predator thrived, because today, Tasmania is acknowledged as trout fish central, drawing anglers from all around the planet and hosting world titles. It's considered a best practice industry that generates a lot of jobs, is sustainable, and has social licence - the likes of which must make the salmon industry's gills turn green.
Tasmanians have long been closet greens. They first started coming out in the 1920s over what was known as 'Ogilvie's Scar'. The idea of Albert Ogilvie, the premier of the day, a road was carved across the face of Kunanyi [Mount Wellington] during the Great Depression as a Work for the Dole scheme. During the 1972 Lake Pedder Campaign they came out in droves and formed the world's first political green party, the United Tasmania Group. A decade later, with the support of spy planes over the Franklin River, we saw the rise to prominence of Bob Brown and the Federal Green party.
In this day and age, social licence is a number one priority for any developer wishing to gain access to our natural resources. Especially if they want them for nothing. So, in order to appear to be clear and transparent, our leaders developed a practice known as 'commercial in confidence'.
Which means: We're not going to tell you!
Local history is writ large with crap examples of 'commercial in confidence'. As stakeholders, we simply aren't in the loop when it comes to how much corporations pay for unrestricted access to our commonwealth. Like, what royalty does a milled tree, ingot of zinc, or fillet of fish attract? "Sorry, commercial in confidence." Nor are we told what they can do to the environment along the way. Let's not forget, they did drown a sizable chunk of a national park!
The fact that the Tamar Woodchip Mill couldn't pump toxins into Bass Strait, was ultimately due to its lack of social licence. So was logging native forests. So was the dumping of jarosite off Tasman Island. So why are salmon farmers allowed to accumulate piles of crap in our waterways?
Is it because that, to date, common minds have lacked a common voice?
There are three major players in the local salmon game. Tassal, being the largest, Huon Aquaculture, and Petuna. The Bender family became industry pioneers when they established Huon Aquaculture in the 1980's with stock from Canada. Since then the industry has gone ahead in gigantic, unbounded leaps. Farms now clog the waters of Macquarie Harbour, Nubeena, Port Arthur, and Oakhampton Bay and the spin machine is working on leases in Bass Strait, off Burnie, and Martha Lavinia on King Island. And, they need a lot more real estate, since the industry plans to double production by 2030.
Rather than staying with an exclusive boutique market, the growers have chased volume by taking over the fridges of major supermarkets. As a consequence, the industry is now driven by market forces and in order to supply that market, is creeping out of exhausted sheltered waterways - into what they call 'deep water'. What the rest of us call, the ocean.
For several years, Huon Aquaculture has been operating the state's first deep water lease, just off Bull Bay on North Bruny, in Storm Bay. Storm by name, storm by nature, the bay has already served it up to them several times, resulting in hundreds of thousands of escapees, some gracing local dinner tables, and giant mounds of plastic nets and pipes pissing off local beachgoers.
But that's just the beginning. A second lease has been granted to Tassal on the other side of Storm Bay. It's around 900 hectares and extends 1.8 kms west of Wedge Island with a production target of up to 40,000 TPA. While only one pen is in place at the moment, eventually there will be hundreds - creating a plastic wall that not only sits in the path of ocean swells as they journey up Storm Bay, but in the path of the commercial shipping and recreational boats as well.
The bulk of the surf ridden in Southern Tasmania comes via Storm Bay and has been the focal point for Hobart surfers for half a century. It's our playground and we're a stakeholder. Apart from what happens to all the crap, our questions are: How will this barrier affect our local surf breaks, and how many white pointers will patrol the lineups?
Last year the board of Surfing Tasmania (STAS) decided it needed to become recognised as having skin in the salmon game. After all, it's an environmental issue that has consequences for all surfers, be they past, present, future, STAS member or not. Needing to know more, some six months ago we attended an online forum, 'Salmon Farms – Fact, Fiction or Spin', run by a group of local independent scientists.
Our take away from the forum was: the industry is growth driven; the Government is jobs and growth driven; and even though there is a watchdog in the form of the EPA, with little funding for either enforcement or research it's both toothless and ineffective - the Macquarie Harbour fiasco being a clear illustration of that. Collectively, the scientists agreed that a moratorium should be placed on 'deep water' farming while further consideration of the environmental impacts was undertaken. They also agreed that the chances of this happening was Buckley's to none!
We then wrote to the Salmon Growers, the Government, and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), expressing our general concerns along with our specific questions. We received one reply, a minister congratulating us on our Facebook shark alerts. He gave no answers to our queries, but directed us to links telling us what a grand job they're all doing!
So where to from here?
If history is any indication, the only way our coastlines won't be smothered by crap circles, is if the salmon growers are denied social licence. It's a powerful cartel with a lot to lose, and like the electricity and timber barons before them, capable of spin that would do Shane Warne proud.
Surfers are not against jobs, indeed some of us work in the salmon industry. We all have to earn our living. No, what surfers are against is how the local industry goes about it! While globally, the industry is transitioning to land-based farms and processing its waste into fertiliser, we're transitioning to our coastal waters and expecting nature to deal with the crap.
It's not easy being small fry in a big pond, however even though our numbers may be small, we do share a common mind with other stakeholders, like recreational fishers, divers, local residents, and yachties. We're now reaching out to them, to see if we can collectively come out and form a common voice. Even better, make our voice louder by becoming a STAS social member. It costs less than half a slab of beer, your voice gets to be heard - and surf accident insurance comes as a bonus.
In the meantime, get your Omega 3 hit by eating Tassie trout. They're clean, green, sustainable - and they don't crap in circles!
// MICK LAWRENCE
Mick Lawrence is the President of Surfing Tasmania Inc.
Comments
More power to you all in this fight , Mr Lawrence.
I think a large factor working against your efforts is the fact that the salmon are delicious. Plus they’ve got a bit of iconic status as a premium health food despite the unnatural process involved in their growth and production. Not helpful if you’re trying to convince people of the product boycott which is the one thing guaranteed to get serious results.
Any disagreement with a powerful corporation is difficult, separating fact from spin is the hurdle.
Like the forest barons of yesterday the fish barons of today serve up spin like Shayne Warne.
Education is the key and through education may truth prevail.
If you want to know what is really happening in our state and what goes into producing 'delicious...health foods' check out this webinar series.
You may change your mind.
https://neighboursoffishfarming.org.au
I don’t eat the shit myself mate. I’m just saying that many others do and their dietary habits might be a major impediment in the fight to contain this destructive industry.
Yeah, a horrible industry, a classic case of something being quite good if and when it is small scale and they take into account the negatives and have some plan, which then becomes unmanageable due to size.
On matters environmental it’s a constant whack-a-mole. You get on top of one and capitalism serves up another. Bam!
Good luck.
Thank you for your work and insight. I feel a pang of guilt at not being an active Greenie. I'm just too busy with a family and business. Certainly I am deep inside and I express this by buying organic, using cardboard straws, disposable cups/lids and by picking up rubbish. We need people like you and I am grateful.
One scary thing is Huon was recently acquired by JBS ( Brazilian meat company with a bad rep). They have also bought up a shit load of other Australian farming/agricultural companies , not to mention world wide.
Four corners did a show on them just last week. A bit of a worry ..
Salmon farming is mentioned from 34:00 on.
I love Salmon but try not to eat it unless It's wild caught, I'm in a bit of a conundrum too because the only wild caught salmon I can get is Russian.
I choose not to eat farmed salmon as the Norwegian salmon industry is a larger, more mature industry of what's going in in Tassie. Basically, they've poisoned large swathes of their coast and now resort to more and more toxins to get a loosely termed 'edible' product to market. Without having to do too much research, farmed Norwegian salmon is one of the most toxic things you can put in your body.
Sheesh. I remember reading an article in the Good Weekend about 20 years ago about farmed Aussie salmon. Haven't eaten it since. It's seriously bad shit. Hard to imagine something worse.
Won't touch the shit and tell anyone who will listen not to either.
Good luck Mick.
Keep the updates regular on here, something good might come out of it and lots of people want to be informed by voices like yours.
Poor Tasmania. Work took me well off-road into where the forestry was occurring during the contested 2000s forestry/pulp mill environment. I can contrast how it was in 2002-3 to 2007-8 all over the state. Personally, was shocked at the destruction and noted the divide in the people. When you've had someone say the only job going is $400 a week in the timber mill, there's nothing else for them, too, what there? Even had plane flights next to the management of the timber producers. And I worked in many of the incredible locations eg Florentine, Tarkine, highlands, the NE forests - not cutting down anything, either. "I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe...", to go all Blade Runner on you. The conversions into eucalyptus niitens (sp?) and all the baiting and chemicals, the family farms becoming plantations, that was hard to see and remain detached. It was also payday for the landholders I guess.
Not sure where forestry is now, but it's sad to see the same mentality in those water ways.
Mick, what kind of water-flow occurs through the D'Entrecasteux Channel? Or around the Tasman? Visually it's a lot of still water.
And GWS, have heard the stories of them around the pens...
Also good luck to keeping equipment in place off Marthas & south east of it.
The Channel is a long shallow waterway separating Bruny island from the mainland and has less than 1 metre of tide, which makes natural flushing minimal.
The extreme southern end of the Channel does get flushed by the outflow of the Huon River, but with climate change rainfall in the area has dropped substantially, resulting in the natural flushing process now being in crisis.
The only people talking about this are scientists not employed by fish farms or government agencies and what they say is alarming.
Suggest you read Richard Flanagan's book 'Toxic' to get the facts.
As the hydro wars and forest wars illustrated, we can't rely on our leaders to tell us the truth.
That's why people like me are sounding the alarm bells.
You reap what you sow!
Cheers Mick, so it's as I thought with regard to natural flushing; good on you for raising the issue. Will have a look for the book.
If you have trouble finding it at your local bookshop Google Fullers bookshop in Hobart, they will look after you.
Thanks for the tip on the book Mick , have just ordered it and will read with great interest , being ( now former ) salmon consumers
VJ you might find this article interesting
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-03/tas-carbon-negative-emission-leve...
Thank you very much for that lomah.
Never said much here before, always reading though, but this one is close to my heart.
When i was a kid all that sat between my bedroom window and the D'Entrecasteux was the bottom paddock. It was my playground and it was pristine.
The first fish pens were starting across the channel just off North Bruny. It was small scale and the damage was yet to be seen. I left school went wandering and never permanently returned. Its shocking what has become of the channel in the years since. I used to go fishing without bait and catch a flatty's every minute, now I've heard you'd be lucky to catch anything. The rocks are covered in slime and my mate has trouble pulling up the anchor on his boat cause its stuck in the weed that as taken over.
Have a read of 'Toxic' by Richard Flanagan if your interested. The Norwegians told them that Tasmania isn't a suitable ecosystem for salmon farming....,. The whole industry is a complete disaster from the crooked policy ( or lack thereof ) around it to the damage caused to the environment at every step of the way from spawning, feeding, breeding to eating it.
I haven't touched the shit for a long time and never will again and don't hesitate to tell anybody who will listen whats happened.
Matts,
Breaks my heart reading about where you grew up as a child being screwed over by greedy Companies.
I can relate to your story when I visited a favorite fishing spot after 30years.
Canals and marinas have decimated any chance of even seeing any fish let alone catching any.
Like you, back in the day, we would always get a decent haul of Bream and Flatty.
Not now.
Disclosure: I have previously been a shareholder of Tassal.
I find this issue intriguing to say the least. Firstly as nature lovers surfers are generally against all forms of industrial farming. Except we love flying planes and travelling and riding seriously toxic equipment etc.
On this issue, when faced with the alternative forms of commercial fishing, i.e. dragging huge nets through the ocean and wiping out anything in its way. I for one am a massive fan of the idea of farmed fish. That being said as a previous shareholder one of the primary issues was not crap but oxygen saturation of the water in the harbour. So Huon and Tassal have had to reduce the numbers of fish per pen simply as nature said no. So in a way it is being moderated by natural means.
The simple fact is with heaps of people on the planet the thing is many fish in the ocean are being wiped out through sheer demand.
Secondly Salmon is an amazing healthy fish to eat in the natural environment. I simply can't buy any salmon or similar fish in Australia at the local supermarkets etc. In fact almost all fish come from China such as NZ Hoki filleted in China. If that is my alternative I'll take the Australian Farm Salmon over anything that has been "processed in china"
I think the thing that is really needed is better forms of farming rather than just being against it in principle.
Hi blingas,
We are not against sustainable 'best practice' industry.
We are against unsustainable 'worst practice' industry.
While the northern hemisphere farms are moving to 'land based' operations, our champions of industry, led by the Batista brothers, aka The Butchers from Brazil, are moving into our coastal waters and surf zones.
The next phase of their southern expansion - what you refer to as ' better form of farming ' - is around 10 kms north of Shipstern Bluff.
The last thing I want to be doing in 5 years is writing an article about The Butchers of the Bluff.
That's why we are making a noise and asking surfers to help crank up the volume.
It’s not really being moderated by natural means. Macquarie harbour situation was becoming diabolical, literally an existential threat to native ecosystems. there were warning signs, which were ignored, like there are now in so many other areas that the current farming practices are being used. The new farms proposed in Storm Bay will be producing the equivalent of 2 mill peoples worth of sewage a day once at full capacity. If we were pumping about ten times Hobarts worth of shit into the water next door every day people would be up in arms.
Also, it’s not like we all have to eat fish. There’s much more choice than that. In fact, we could just choose to abstain from eating products that are destroying our oceans and planets ecosystems, and miss out on a couple salmon fillets but maybe that’s too much to ask.
Wow what a good article Mick Lawrence, is Tuna the same? im pretty sure the fish farm in Geraldton is for tuna, not salmon and you can often see sharks going near the farm which is about 1km away from a man made wave.
Anyway good read, my mate and his mum and dad live in Tasmania and own a fishing tackle shop and trout fishing adventure business, raking in around $5000 per person a day or something like that. Rich jewish folk.
You'd at least hope the water quality is being monitored and regulated around these operations.
Just a thought, but it might be more effective to fund your activism separately from STAS membership, as that narrows your potential quite a bit.
Thanks Mike,
To answer your two points.
1, The body charged with monitoring water levels etc in Tasmania is the Environmental Protection Authority, who, with minimal funding, lack the resources to do their job. Accordingly, monitoring of water quality around fish pens is performed by the fish farmers themselves. Great system eh?
2. We are always seeking ways to increase our membership base. Its a major source of our funding.
Our surveys reveal that mateship and the environment are the main reasons locals surf. Joining STAS as a social member gives surfers the opportunity to have their voice heard.
Surfing Tasmania is not an activist group and neither do we fund any. What we do is source information from independent scientists and pass it onto our members. We also advise members of appropriate organisations should they want to get actively involved. e.g. Surf Rider Foundation in the ongoing battle over Martha Lavina on King Island.
Hope this clarifies things for you.
Thanks Mick, that first point is a shocking failure of the system/government, surely the EPA can afford a runabout and some testing equipment, I can't think of anyone I know that wouldn't find that situation absurd, hope the message gets around.
The second point, fair enough! Just thought the issue might reach further than Tassie surfers, I'm sure ocean enthusiasts around the country would find this disturbing at least and a precedent at worst, the more funding and info out there, the better. Cheers
It is a reoccurring theme on this planet.... it takes strong people to make changes....
if the primary goal of a big business is maximum profit and there is limited community or political will & regulation, (eg 3rd World) then the simplest tools / leverage for change appears to possibly be profit & loss or..... ?
Everything in moderation; on a human, catchment and world ecological scale.... would be preferable...
however, primates are being trained into a reactive modes (eg. fashion, finance, foods, feelings, etc ) ; learning hard lessons after disease, social & environmental impacts hits your family, the headlines or overwhelms hospitals, doctors, active community members, scientists ....and eventually ....our political 'leaders'.
sorta.... Reference https://www.stress.org/please-meet-your-monkey-mind
PS. Socrates says reason and wisdom should govern. "Until philosophers rule as kings...... cities will have no rest from evils, nor, I think, will the human race."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Justice
In 399 BC, Socrates (the Greek philosopher) the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought; went on trial & was poisoned by the Greek state for "corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, and for impiety (ie, not believing in Athenian religion)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates#Trial_of_Socrates
Tangent #2
The law of salvage is a principle of maritime law whereby any person who helps recover another person's ship or cargo in peril at sea is entitled to a reward commensurate with the value of the property salved.
The right to be rewarded for salvage at sea is based both on principles of fairness and public policy: the law seeks to be fair both to the property owners and to the salvors. The legal entitlement to a salvage reward arises when a person, acting as a volunteer (that is, without any pre-existing contractual or other legal duty so to act), preserves or contributes so to preserving at sea any vessel, cargo, freight, or other recognized subject of salvage from danger.
Maritime law is inherently international, and although salvage laws vary from one country to another, generally there are established conditions to be met to allow a claim of salvage.[1] The vessel must be in peril, either immediate or forthcoming; the "salvor" must be acting voluntarily and under no pre-existing contract; and the salvor must be successful in their efforts, though payment for partial success may be granted if the environment is protected.
Danger needs to be real but not necessarily immediate or absolute. The subject of salvage must be in real danger, which means the property is exposed to damage or destruction.
Under Article 14(1) the salvor is entitled to special compensation if he has carried out salvage operation on a vessel which by itself or its cargo threatens damage to the environment.
If the salvage operation actually prevents or minimizes damage to the environment, the salvor will be able to claim enhanced special compensation with the provision of Article 14(2).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_salvage
T#3
Protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance provides cover for third party liability incurred by a vessel, as such it is also known as liability insurance.
The scope of P&I Insurance is very broad and covers practically all maritime liability risks (other than those covered by workers compensation and the hull policy). Some examples of the third party liabilities P&I insurance covers are;
Personal injury or loss of life,
Third party property damage,
Liability due to a collision,
Damage to fixed and floating objects (piers),
Stowaways and repatriation,
Removal of wreck,
Salvage operations,
Civil liabilities accrued due to pollution or oil spills.
Liability insurance is particularly important as the costs of salvage, wreck removal and oil spills, and other liabilities can very quickly amount to costs several times the value of the vessel.
https://pacificmaritimelawyers.com.au/protection-and-indemnity/
T#4 (If all else fails.....)
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Part XII of UNCLOS contains special provisions for the protection of the marine environment, obligating all States to collaborate in this matter....
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 additionally has a target regarding conservative and sustainable use of oceans and their resources in line with UNCLOS legal framework...
Reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_th...
huon also trialed king fish farming just north of Newy on the way out to Broughton Island....total failure as the nets broke in a ECL and let thousands of kingy's into the open waters..some interesting footage of blokes bagging out in minutes...Caught my fair share as well thank you Huon
Thanks for that you 'old bustard'.
The east coast current is one of the worlds' water temperature hot spots, with Tassie waters now home to marlin, coral and sea snakes - previously unheard of - and being a cold water fish the growers, quite rightly, are crapping themselves, hence the Kingfish trials.
Ironically or arrogantly, they call their pens 'The Huon Fortress' because they're supposedly foolproof.
Just like up your way, storms have already claimed a few 'Fortresses' with piles of debris littering our beaches and hundreds of thousands of salmon given a ticket of leave.
I think a more appropriate name would have been -' King Canute pens',
.
...just googled it...apparently more like 20,000 kingys went loose.. no wonder I managed a couple but they were quite mature as it was a year or so after, If I was technically minded I would drop a pic or 2 on here but well above 20kg. I read that Huon underestimated the weed that grew on the cables that held the pens in place and then the drag caused by the big swell just busted them
+1 for 'ticket of leave' :)
https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/the-butchers-from-brazil:-the-corporate-...
Thanks Mick I don't eat the shit for the reasons you’ve pointed out. Watch the the story in the link above these fuckers are getting involved to.
And RSPCA stik there monika on this shit behaviour an absolute disgrace ..those dirty fkn politicians who let it continue should be thrown in with the salmon ..Farmed prawns are no different and Tassel now own a lot of prawn farms up and down the east coast its marketed as australian tiger prawn ( helped along with government grants )....well done with the promotion work Curtis (so juicy )you must really need the money .. no requirement to label as farmed ...they are a leader prawn they dont taste or look loke a wild tiger prawn ....you want health benefits from seafood buy wild caught australian ...you want to be kinder to the enviroment buy australian wild caught seafood ...you will be supporting family buisness not corrupt enviromental vandals filling you with bullshit ..oh yeah and you wont be eating a pile of antibiotics and chemical couloring ...And before the tree huggers have some sort of misinformed meltdown in ther almond nut decaf Australian wild caught fishing industry is sustainable and vigoutsly monitored ...
All power to you Mick, you'll need it. Land based feedlots first disposed their waste into waterways, holding dams, etc until the public saw / smelt the impact. Tas forestry clear fell blocks left a margin of trees on roadsides.
My point is until the public see the impact, commercial in confidence rules. Unfortunately the public dont care too much for the science, they suspect dire predictions, in particular when there's a tasty meal at risk.
Mick Lawrence: don't accept non answers from the Ministers to your questions. Write to them again and demand answers and persist until they give answers. Be specific with your questions and write them in away that prevents the possibility of avoidance with a non answer. Also through a parliamentarian eg Greens Parliamentarian, have your questions asked in parliament including questions about why the Ministers failed to answer the questions when first asked. You'll need to provide a 1 page briefing accompanying the questions which articulates the context of the questions.
Your suggestion is noted and appreciated.
Don't forget that the Tas Govt has also given permission to fish farmers to control wildlife that prey on the farms. Hence, many badly injured or dead seals along shorelines in the vicinity of farms.
Correct.
When the farms were first established, operators had a relocation program - offending seals were captured then relocated by Parks and Wildlife rangers to the north of the state.
Problem was the seals often beat the rangers back home, so the farmers introduced double netting.
Then the seals started forming relay teams to chew through the pens' double netting.
As a counter move divers are now allowed to use more direct methods: the equivalent of stun grenades and rubber bullets.
Expect the seals to soon start wearing body armour!
The war of attrition continues.
Nothing like a good article on this disgusting industry to tighten the chest and get the stress levels up. Good one Mick!! What baffles me is that you don't see much media or political heat on this issue in Tassie as the industry is very adept at keeping a low profile where it counts, that being anyone other than those that actually utilise or have access to these waterways. So when you see articles like this and books like Toxic you can only live in hope that people start taking notice so when the day of reckoning comes for this industry everyone is educated enough to know the full story and go "thanks but no thanks".
It seems that it's not only the ocean based operations that are inflicting damage on the environment either. Don't know if anyone saw this article on the ABC over the weekend but maybe, just maybe Hobart's drinking water will one day become "undrinkable" and result in the cheapest form of advertising to the general population against the free ticket this industry has to fucking up our environment.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-30/salmon-farm-discharge-into-river-...
The key part of this article is this "A SALTAS spokesman said the enterprise valued healthy waterways and "continues to work towards that".
How can you continue to work towards that. Do you start a polluting industry with worst case technology then "work towards" best case technology in the hope that it works, and if it all gets to hard just give up and hope that nobody notices.
I hope that this industry is tidied up soon before it's too late and that us small fry in the big pond get to be part of that.
P.S Mick - Rogue Waves was truly one of the most inspiring and beautiful pieces of cinematography I have had the pleasure to watch. We are lucky to live where we do sans Crap Circles.
Thanks, kind words like yours makes the fight worthwhile.
Despite living through the Lake Pedder drowning, the Vietnam protest, the Whitlam sacking, the Franklin dam issue, and the Forest Wars, up until now Ive never been inclined to get involved in protests ... probably because I was too busy surfing.
However now I'm reaching the latter part of my journey I've found I have a need to give something back and I can't think of a better cause than to stop those with a lack of respect and pure greed from destroying the very ocean that gave me so much.
My aim is to let them know that social licence is ours to give - not theirs to take.
It's a bit like "Imagine if we knew then what we know now" at this stage in our lives. Swellnet is an excellent information platform for that and wish we had something like this back in the 70's and 80's.
Next time you're wondering down the aisle in the supermarket thinking about a tasty salmon dinner full of all those Omega 3 fats and the like, keep in mind that there is the chance that the fella below might be on your plate and if not it's probably a concoction of chemicals that keep him from looking like that. Bon Appetit.
How about me, you say that bastard trout is green and clean... it took out my family, community and the food I thrived on...
Whether one went one way 'the ocean' and the other went 'up stream', they are both filth and need addressing...
For now I reside in tiny creeks and and puddles away from that hostile beast the 'trout', to area's they can't find me... how about we clean them all out, from ocean to up stream and allow us local folk to flourish and prosper in our waterways again!
lots of my Tassie mates are strongly opposed to all this.
I have mixed feelings, I love eating Atlantic Salmon and we need to be farming fish for the future and not just relying on wild stocks..
But yeah a lot of it doesn't seem good for local environment.
Surely there is a middle ground where it can be done at numbers and areas that don't ruin the local environment.
Add a filtration pumping system to each cage which would remove the shit, then transfer the shit to a boat which takes it to a processing plant where it can be turned into fertilizer pellets similar to ''Organic life'' for farmers.
They could also add in the fish that die which get vacuumed up off the floor of the cage.
Seems bizarre they aren't considering this when you see the amount of engineering that goes into the ones in the North Sea.
Think about restocking the wild fish stocks (might have to clean up ocean a bit and consider supporting current climate systems for the better)... and maybe think about farming sustainable fish that are local to their location, might mean losing the visual pink and be more satisfied with other fish tastes and visuals...
Finding the balance is probably key, although big industry, back pockets and sheep make this a little more challenging...
Nice article and good on you guys for putting up some opposition to something that could detrimentally impact your backyard. Its such an interesting conversation. The seafood industry has acknowledged social license as one of the highest ranking issues affecting its future, and I was lucky enough to drive an industry led investigation into the social license of the seafood industry nationally fairly recently. As a part of that I visited Tassie several times and had a fair look at the salmon industry. Its very interesting to say the least.
The big question is does the bad outweigh the good? I mean aquaculture produces protein with some of the lowest carbon footprint and the food conversion ratio is outstanding (around 2 Kg or less of feed to 1 kg body weight in some cases for fish), and the sources of protein that feed is composed of is constantly improving. The way they deliver the feed to fish is futuristic and designed to increasingly minimize waste.
When we look at many alternatives, land based food production has an considerably larger physical and embodied energy footprint. Carbon emissions in most cases are also high. The way we outsource and have commercialized food production to the extreme is the source of many wicked problems. Wild catch fisheries in most instances are severely depleted, and claims that commercial fisheries are sustainable is (in my opinion) questionable as it is based on the assumption that essentially 1 in 5 breeding fish (fish at maturity) when compared to the number of breeding fish estimated around the 1950's (when commercial fishing really took off) is sufficient (i.e. "sustainable")....even when many environmental conditions and habitats are in rapid transition (bridging ecosystems that facilitate the movement of species) and are more fragmented than ever. How we produce food at scale in a sustainable and regenerative manner into the future is a bit of a mind bender, particularly when you consider behavior change as an essential component of all of that.
I can tell you now that those in the know see the future of this industry as being either further offshore (probably coupled with offshore energy/infrastructure complexes), or on land (where all inputs and outputs are intensely managed to reduce as much negative environmental impact as possible in a circular economy type arrangement) to manage the issue of social license. It was interesting listening to conversations about this topic from various experts during this work. Some of the existing thinking is, in my opinion, flawed. The argument that providing jobs, contributing to the economy, supporting local communities (i.e. sporting clubs etc.), and relying on 3rd part certifications is sufficient justification for the expansion of industry (particularly if products are positioned for sale in premium markets) is old school thinking and a tad arrogant (and/or defensive).
I can see some very positive initiatives this industry is trialing (such as the addition of seaweed farms alongside fish farms to effectively mop up the organic pollution produced by fish and wasted feed) but there is no doubt this industry is powered by some shady connections, big egos and sometimes questionable self delusions of their own self importance.
I could go on for hours, but from what I have seen, the salmon industry does have a disregard for popular opinion (i.e. social license), so I am very keen to see how this plays out. I hope you and your team Mick team up with other like minded groups and push the agenda of affected communities, altered ecosystems and future generations to make it clear that industry needs to step-up and transition faster to better, less invasive practices. I hope that you all present scenarios of better, alternative systems that can support food production, environments and prosperity in the place of what is currently proposed so that more people support your cause and get on board.
From what I have seen, JBS look extremely dodgy!!
I read Toxic 2 years ago and my moratorium started then. It's amazing that they can rape the environment, pump the fish full of chemicals and label themselves as clean and green. Best of luck Mick I hope you and your helpers win before they completely kill the rest of the waters, Franklin Harbour is apparently dead already.
Last century [1996] the shit from 66 tuna cages in Boston Harbor Pt. Lincoln caused an algal bloom and red tide that killed 70 percent of the wild harvested bluefin tuna swimming in circles in the pens. They now farm them in deeper, more tide affected water but the shit still coats the bottom. What could go wrong? Land based systems may be more expensive but easier to keep water clean. Best way to keep the farms clean is to have water intake DOWNSTREAM from the outlet.
One of my first jobs was on a Scottish salmon farm, at 16 messing about at sea in boats was perfect. Got interested in the industry and a few years later ended up with a degree in aquaculture. The ecologically dubious nature of some types of aquaculture including salmon farming didn't sit well with me so my work was more along fisheries management until I moved onto something else.
I'm always interested to hear about how the industry is going 20+ years on, one mate from uni works between Scotland, Peru and Hawaii and his role is largely based around social license. Back in the day bad bits of the industry were just kept quiet, now companies and those who grant licenses are answerable.
Tasmania along with Norway were the benchmark for salmon farming in the 90's, all of the farms I worked on imported millions of ova from Tassie as the mortality rate up to harvest size was low, even with a flight half way around the world. Tasmanian brood stock were known to be grown in pristine waters where current and deep water meant the cages were well 'flushed' reducing diseases and environmental impact.
Many Scottish farms were loch based where poor tidal flush meant the sea bed around cages could be badly polluted with shit and waste food. It also allowed sea lice to hang around which decimated farmed and migrating wild fish as in the image above. The treatment for this at the time was a hydrogen peroxide 'bath' but it was pretty ineffective.
As a grom, working with the divers removing 'morts' was my job twice a week, must've pulled 10's of thousands of dead fish out of cages. Eventually, government and independent monitoring of the seabed beneath the cages forced salmon farms to move their sea sites into deeper water.
Improved monitoring and feeding systems are constantly aiming to reduce waste for cost and environmental reasons. I spent many happy days micro dosing LSD, joint in hand, feeding the fish but it is pretty much all automated now. Sensors below the cage slow the feed rate if it starts falling through the bottom of the net.
It sounds like fish farms in Tassie are marking their own work when it comes to environmental monitoring. If there are concerns about pollution it would be worth getting sea bed samples and footage independent of the EPA. One person with a camera would get the ball rolling on socials.
Predators are always an issue around salmon farms, we had a license to shoot seals as a pest but more will turn up for an easy feed. Farms attracting larger predators would be a concern in Tassie. I can't see how salmon cages would effect swell from a surfers point of view, the idea is that they don't form a barrier and allow tide and swell to move through them.
The balance between food production and environment harm is a tricky one and if Tasmanian salmon farms are having a detrimental impact they could be encouraged to farm more sustainably. Maybe Tassie's green leaning locals could bring change or maybe they are being selective in their arguments.
Worth remembering that the Tassie trout was/is an invasive species and an aggressive predator which no doubt carried disease and negatively effected native species when it first arrived in pristine Tasmanian rivers and lakes from Europe. Now it is lauded and a symbol of Tassie and trout fishing is 'considered a best practice industry that generates a lot of jobs, is sustainable, and has social licence'. The irony won't be lost on salmon farmers.
Reading this from a smaller island, with an awareness of how such disproportionate development can so easily tip the balance. Thank you for providing such well researched and clearly articulated info. I personally try to eat home grown and wild as much as possible and fully support the pro sustainable 'best practice' industry over unsustainable 'worst practice' industry as a precept.
In doing so I feel pretty uncomfortable rregarding my legacy as a surfer sans the imprint I have left due to five plus decades of wetties, surfboards, wax, roadtrips, surf checks, overseas missions etc etc etc......it is considerable and realistically far outweighs the impact I would have created had I not surfed and eaten farmed salmon on a regular basis. To be clear, I fully support closed cycle, on land aquatic farming but shift uneasily in my seat whilst looking out from my glass house.
"That many fish produce more anally than a city of one million people does annually!"
Gotta say this line is genius.
'The extreme southern end of the Channel does get flushed by the outflow of the Huon River, but with climate change rainfall in the area has dropped substantially, resulting in the natural flushing process now being in crisis.' I was with you until you played the climate change card Mick. CC caused flooding in NSW but drought in Tas?
Not playing a card. Playing it straight.
The outflow of the Huon River is dependent upon rainfall in our southwest wilderness. Normal annual rainfall in
the area is around 2.5 METRES ensuring consistent water flow in the Channel area.
According to the BOM summary 'most of western Tasmania had 2022 summer rainfall totals in the driest 10% of records since the service began in the early 1900's.
Why? Because La Nina events cause an easterly flow onto the Australian mainland with the resulting high rainfall. However it also causes the southwest airstream which creates the monthly high rainfall in southwest Tasmania to fail. The winds shift to east and the south west sector moves into a drought cycle.
For the past 7 years I've worked as a wilderness guide at a wilderness camp in the Port Davey area, which is located on the far southwest coast. The company I work for has operated tours there for over 30 years and have never experienced such low rainfall as the past three. By mid January the normal boggy peat dried out and cracks revealing bed rock, by mid February most native plants were in severe stress and begin dying back.
For the past three years from late spring, we had to fly in bottled drinking water and cart cooking and washing water for each camp from a nearby permanent spring. Waterfalls in the area ceased flowing by December.
Most mainlanders don't know, but Hobart is the second driest capital city in Australia, marginally behind Adelaide. I live 20km SE of Hobart and live on tank water. Our annual average rainfall is around 560mm. Since Jan 1 this year our total rainfall to May 1 is 88mm.
Don't believe me? Then check BOM records.
I don't know if its climate change or simply variances in 'weather' what I do know is that our air and water temperatures are increasing year by year. April 2022 our daily temps were some 5 degrees above average. We now have marlin, sea snakes and coral growing in our east coastal waters.
Selfishly I'm glad I'm 75 as I hold grave fears for our future generations.
Don't believe me ? Check the BOM records.
Cheers for the reply Mick. It would be great to discover this area, and pretty cool for you to show us! Years ago taking the kids through Teepookana (sp?) it was mentioned that the trend in SW rainfall was falling, and that species like Huon Pine do need a large amount, and are prone to fire. As are the King Billys and many other of the gondwanic trees. Hopefully this winter some of that NW WA rain band goes past us and gets down to you.
Good on you for showing your kids our Gondwanan relics, does something to your ego and soul to stand in their shadow. An amazing experience for any thinking human being.
Yep all our pines are prone to fire, but there's no shortage of Huon pines, they are prolific around the areas rivers and streams. Dry lightning is their enemy and thats becoming more common.
Big rain event here right now, so probably dodged another bullet till next summer. Love to show you my backyard one day. Cheers
Mick is playing any card he can in the hope that something sticks - pollution, predators, escapees, the effect on waves, climate change. All sounds a bit nimby to me
That was a very different comment to the one you posted yesterday.
In that comment you largely agreed with Mick, even admitting that you quit the industry over dubious practices, yet now when someone takes them on - rather than being a chickenshit and turning their back - it's NIMBYism.
Fair enough, was just having a bit of a joke. You got scales in the game?
I'm a Piscean. Does that count?
I would often fish a spot in the channel. Farms were about 2x my casting length away. When the farm first appeared, the flathead fishing was unbelievable. They were attracted by the pellets. The farms also concentrated other fish species............. Fast forward 15x years. That spot is totally rooted to what it once was. Yes you can catch a flathead, no where near as many. But now days the flesh of the fish is smooshy. Almost as if the hormones given to Salmon to make them grow, also make flathead grow "To fast". They get spinal deformities and weird growths. I do not believe for a minute it's natural. But a direct result of the farm. Also, a thick hideous scumy sludge now covers all kelp and seaweed by the shore. The fish don't hang around in that like they once did. I think the local shellfish are being harmed also. The place was once absolutely full of muscles....... But after about 7x years of the farm being their, the muscles got funny spots. Those spots turn to calcified lumps. Those lumps then break exposing the muscle to constant air, then I think it dies. The flesh of a dead muscle is all spotty and diseased looking. Pretty darn sad all round. I can no longer bring myself to go fishing locally anymore for this reason. Cheers!
Know what you mean Dutchy - about 15 years ago before I moved away from Tassie to one of the smaller isles, I used to reef abs off of rocks in knee high water in Norfolk Bay.....an onland ab farm was established in the vicinity. The effluents from this farm were, and probably still are, pumped into the bay. Was not long before the rocks were choked with green slime and the abs disappeared - I have nothing evidence based to establish a connection so can't be absolutely sure - just that it was such a pity to witness the change that occurred.
By all means let's limit these salmon farms but it's very lazy (but of course, politically correct) to throw 'CC' at every change we see in weather patterns.
Sure thing Cockee, but it’s also very lazy to dissociate all the other flow on effects from this type (or other types) of farming.
On your point Cockee, you may find your answer here. -https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html
My observations of 60 years is: Compared to when I first started surfing and learning about local weather - My island is hotter by some 3 degrees. The seasons are less defined. Our local currents are warmer. Our rainfall is declining. Our flora and fauna are changing. Swell patterns are less consistent. I consume less firewood. I seek shade more often. I no longer wear galoshes.
Not sure what Hanrahan would call it, but I call it a big conundrum.