In just over three decades, salmonid farming in Tasmania has gone from a harvest of 50 tonnes in 1986 to an industry that has a production value of more than $1 billion in 2021-22. Salmonid aquaculture is now Australia’s largest fishery and Tasmania’s largest primary industry with several thousand people employed. Salmonid marine farms cover approximately 0.14% of Tasmania waters.
Extensive and repeated community sentiment tracking demonstrates a very high (93%) level of awareness of the industry with more than half of the population supportive of the industry (with a net support score of 37).
On the other hand, 20% of Tasmanians oppose the industry citing concerns relating to environmental protection, animal welfare and transparency. Those concerns can often be amplified through the tv, newspapers, radio and social media, which are the dominant channels by which the community receives information on the industry.
Whilst community sentiment has remained constant and positive over recent years, and consumer demand has increased, there is a growing sense that the status quo will not deliver a thriving sustainable aquaculture industry into the future.
In this presentation we will provide an overview of the current finfish aquaculture industry in Tasmania and the work the Blue Economy CRC has been undertaking to understand the values, experiences, concerns and aspirations of businesses, industries, governments, consumers, community, NGOs and researchers.
Using these insights and drawing on global megatrends, best practice farming, innovative legislative reform, contemporary leadership, and emerging technologies, we will present an ambition for aquaculture as part of a broader and integrated ocean economy, in Tasmania for beyond 2033.
The adoption of this ambition will require changes to the current way of doing things. It will require leadership and innovation from government, business, researchers and the community.
The refinement and adoption of this roadmap could see Tasmania with an ambitious sustainable aquaculture industry, balanced with nature, and integrated into the Tasmanian way of life for the decades to come.