Finfish farming legislation passes Tasmanian upper house

New laws controlling salmon farming in Tasmania have been passed the Tasmanian Legislative Council unopposed with two minor amendments.

The Bill includes:

• The permanent and formal transfer of powers over day-to-day environmental regulation of the finfish farming industry from the Secretary of Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) to the independent Environment Protection Authority;

• A requirement that finfish leases that have not been actively used for 10 years, undergo a comprehensive environmental assessment before they are farmed again;

• Bringing together the environmental regulation of inland and marine finfish farming, including hatcheries, into a consolidated system under the Environment Protection Authority;

• The introduction of a new Environmental Licence to farm finfish under Tasmania’s Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 (EMPCA); and

Powers for the declaration of finfish marine farming exclusion zones, or ``No Grow Zones’’ - the first of which will be in the greater Mercury Passage.