The Wire

The Maugean Skate is a ray found on the West Coast of Tasmania in Macquarie Harbour. Due to the effects of salmon farming reducing the oxygen in the water, the Maugean Skate is now facing extinction with numbers sitting at around 1500 individual skate remaining.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Humane Society International Australia have called for the Tasmanian Environmental Protection Agency to deny future salmon farming licenses in Macquarie Harbour. The ACMS and HSIA have also demanded that the Tasmanian EPA use their powers through the Environmental management and Pollution Control Act 1994 to provide proper grounds for refusal of these farming licenses.