EPA renews Tassal's Long Bay salmon farm lease despite community concerns
Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority has extended the operating license for a salmon farm in Long Bay for two years, citing that algal growth is driven by water temperature rather than farm nutrients.
Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has granted a two-year lease extension for Tassal's salmon farm in Long Bay, located near the historic site of Port Arthur. The decision follows a long period of community concern regarding the environmental impact of the farming operations on the shallow, sheltered bay environment.
Tassal restarted its operations in Long Bay in 2017. Following studies into reef health and water quality conducted in 2023, the company was required to reduce its fish feed amounts by 20 percent. The EPA carried out follow-up monitoring to determine if these mitigation measures were successfully reducing the nutrient impact on the ecosystem before confirming the lease extension earlier this week.
According to the EPA’s decision, monitoring revealed no substantial evidence of negative impacts on water quality in Long Bay due to nutrients. While ammonia and nitrogen levels were noted as elevated at sites closest to the farm during the summer, these levels dropped within weeks once the pens were seasonally emptied. Furthermore, the agency described the levels of "nuisance" algae near the farm as "low," noting that they had not increased between 2021 and 2025.
The EPA stated that the growth of algae is primarily driven by shallow water temperatures rather than fish farm nutrients. The decision argues that the bay is interconnected with offshore water masses, which facilitates nutrient exchange. Regarding concerns over the loss of seagrass, the EPA acknowledged that while seagrass sites have declined since 2023, there is insufficient scientific knowledge regarding how seagrass responds to farm-related nutrients.
The Tasmanian Independent Science Council (TISC) and other environmental groups strongly criticized the decision, arguing that Long Bay is poorly suited for salmon farming due to its sheltered nature and poor flushing. The TISC contends that the majority of human-caused nutrient loads in the bay can be attributed to the fish farm. In response to the criticism, the EPA has recommended further scientific monitoring and studies in the coming years to evaluate whether the 2023 feed reduction measures are effectively improving the ecosystem of the bay.