2023-06-29
Minister Plibersek must show the strong political leadership necessary to uphold her own Zero Extinctions pledge and save the Tasmanian Maugean skate from imminent extinction.
Quotes attributable to Greens senator for lutruwita/Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson:
“The Albanese Government’s response to the endangered Maugean skate’s decline is a litmus test on how serious its pledge for no new extinctions really is.
“The plight of this prehistoric species could be immediately improved by reduced salmon biomass in Macquarie Harbour, but it seems the Minister doesn’t have the political will to make hard and necessary decisions.
“Are we really just going to monitor the Maugean skate to its extinction? Decades of monitoring the skate has already sounded the alarm on its imminent demise.
“Science can inform management decisions but it can't make them. This is now a political call, the Minister either pulls out all stops to save the skate or she sticks with the business-as-usual approach that’s led us to this mess in the first place.
“Minister Plibersek has the power to act and to reduce factors driving the skate to extinction, and she needs to pull every lever available to give this species the best possible chance of survival.
“Science has already shown salmon farming is contributing to poor dissolved oxygen levels in Macquarie Harbour and that this is having a devastating impact on the Maugean skate – if the Minister had the political courage she’d pull salmon pens from the harbour immediately.”