The Environmental Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming will be one of the key regulatory tools to manage the environmental impacts of marine finfish farms into the future and for this reason, they must be clear, scientifically based, and provide the environmental regulatory improvements that are so desperately required to restore the flagging community confidence in the environmental management of this industry. Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) has serious concerns that the Draft Environmental Standards for Tasmanian Marine Finfish Farming 2023 largely represent a weaker set of environmental rules than currently apply to marine finfish farms. We are also concerned the Draft Standards lack clarity and do not reflect international best practice and the best available science.
For the detailed reason in our submission, EDO strongly urges the Government to pause the development of the Environmental Standards and go back to the drawing board, including by properly and fulsomely engaging not just with industry but all the lutruwita/Tasmanian community.
