Campaigners working to save the critically endangered Maugean skate – a ray-like fish species found only on Tasmania’s west coast – have brought the battle to the door of the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, in inner-city Sydney.
The Tasmanian community group Neighbours of Fish Farming (Noff) has installed a billboard opposite Plibersek’s office in Redfern that describes the skate as “Labor’s first extinction” and calls on the minister to “remove toxic Tassie salmon from Macquarie Harbour”. The billboard will remain in place for at least the next two weeks.
Plibersek is formally reconsidering salmon farm licences in the harbour after a request by three environment groups.
The skate has dwindled in numbers in recent years due to low oxygen levels that scientists say have been caused in significant part by salmon farms.
Conservationists have said that if the species does become extinct, it will be the first fish to die out in modern times due to human activities. A monitoring report estimated that almost half (47%) the population died out between 2014 and 2021, after a heavy storm and human activities resulted in a sharp drop in oxygen levels.
A governmental scientific committee on threatened species last year recommended that salmon farming be significantly reduced before the beginning of last summer.
Noff campaigner Jess Coughlan said the skate has survived “since the dinosaurs”, but was at risk of not surviving the current government. She hoped the billboard would bring the issue to national attention and dissuade Australians from buying salmon.
“Salmon is causing an extinction event and is continuing to be labeled as responsibly sourced and sustainable in our supermarkets,” Coughlan said. “Shoppers who think they are doing something good for the environment by buying salmon … they absolutely are not.”
She accused the government of failing to comply with its international obligations, arguing it should have reported the issue to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) due to a potential impact on the Tasmanian wilderness world heritage area. The world heritage area makes up about a third of Macquarie Harbour.
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Earlier this month, Plibersek told Guardian Australia that her department had received more than 2,500 submissions on the issue, and that the government was “considering all information to ensure a proper, legally robust decision” was made.
On Tuesday, she said the government had announced more than $2.15m in funding to protect the skate, including supporting a captive breeding program. “We’re not sitting on our hands. we’re working to ensure the protection of the Maugean skate,” she said.
In 2022, Plibersek announced a target of zero new extinctions and released a threatened species action plan that identified 110 “priority” species, including the Maugean skate.
“We have hope that the federal government will do the right thing,” Coughlan said.