Maugean skate's precarious survival threatened by major parties' backing of foreign investors' salmon farms in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour
Albanese government needs to deliver promised new nature laws as soon as possible if it retains power at next federal election to prevent extinctions
Coalition has also pledged it would not ban salmon farming if it wins government
The major political parties must stop using the endangered Maugean skate as a political football, backing foreign investors while ignoring the environmental impacts of salmon farms in the skate's only home, the Australian Marine Conservation Society said today.
It has been reported that on the weekend, the Prime Minister wrote a letter backing Australia's salmon industry without regard to environmental impacts following the release of a report showing a slight uptick in Maugean skate population estimates to about 4000 individuals in Macquarie Harbour.
AMCS Fisheries and Threatened Species Campaign Manager Alexia Wellbelove said: "The major political parties must stop using the endangered Maugean skate as a political football, ignoring the plight of the Maugean skate, which is being driven to extinction in its only home, in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour.
"Australia is in an extinction crisis, with the Maugean skate staring down the barrel of extinction because of the impacts of salmon farming that has depleted oxygen in Macquarie Harbour to catastrophically low levels.
"The Maugean skate's survival remains precarious despite a small improvement in population estimates. An upturning of oxygen depleted water from the depths of Macquarie Harbour wiped out half the Maugean skate population in 2019, and another such event could wipe out the Maugean skate completely.
"With the Maugean skate struggling to survive in its only habitat, Tasmania is on the brink of having its highest profile extinction since the Tasmanian tiger, both main parties need to set out their vision to ensure that the species' future will be secured.
"Smart politics means finding ways to ensure that our unique natural values are protected by our national environment laws, for nature and for the sake of a sustainable economy.
"For a species that has been around since the time of Tyrannosaurus rex, it has seen its fair share of dinosaurs. We need our political leaders to set aside the war of words. More prehistoric politicking won't save the skate."
