Say no to Tassie Salmon It’s time we Say No to Tasmanian-farmed Atlantic salmon for good.
This industry is linked to serious and ongoing environmental issues, including mass fish kills, animal welfare concerns and antibiotic use so heavy that local fishers have been warned to stay kilometers away from some sites.
Most critically, salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour poses an unacceptable extinction risk to the Maugean skate — a critically endangered species found nowhere else on Earth.
Atlantic salmon just aren’t suited to Australian conditions. Tasmania is the warmest place in the world where salmon are farmed at an industrial scale.
Tasmanian waters are warming rapidly, and summertimes are increasingly too hot for these cold-water fish. This weakens their immune systems and allows disease to spread rapidly through the crowded pens
Instead, look for NZ-farmed King salmon, Australian farmed barramundi and Murray cod, or even the native Australian salmon (which, sorry, isn’t actually a species of salmon).
Say no to wild caught barramundi Wild-caught barramundi from Queensland and the Northern Territory are caught using gillnets, which are known to entangle and kill a wide range of threatened marine animals.
This includes dolphins, dugongs, turtles and hammerhead sharks, as well as multiple species of critically endangered sawfish.
Instead, look for farmed barramundi and Murray cod. Most Australian barramundi is farmed in land-based tanks and ponds, and has a very low impact on the surrounding environment.
Note: There are significant concerns around a barramundi farm in Cone Bay, the only ocean based barramundi farm in Australia.
A proposed expansion of the farm is set to be situated in the highly biodiverse marine parks in WA’s special Kimberley waters.
Barramundi from Cone Bay is marketed as Tassal Fresh Aussie Barramundi and is found in Coles, we are investigating emerging and potentially serious environmental concerns with this product.
**So no to wild caught prawns ** When perusing prawn options, avoid those that were caught with a high risk to protected species.
Wild-caught prawns from New South Wales come with serious concerns about the capture of threatened and protected species.
These fisheries have a history of bycatch issues, meaning threatened species can be caught and killed alongside prawns.
There is some positive movement. The Queensland Government has been working with fishers on new bycatch reduction devices and has just announced plans to roll out electronic monitoring cameras on trawl boats from June, which should improve transparency and give a clearer picture of what’s being caught.
If monitoring is implemented properly, it will be a critical step towards these prawns becoming a recommended option in the future. For now, Queensland wild-caught prawns remain on our red list.
When shopping, use the GoodFish Guide to find any of the Green and Amber listed prawn options! Wild-caught King Prawns from South Australia's Spencer Gulf are a great option from Australia’s only Green-Listed wild prawn fishery!
**Say no to imported squid ** That salt and pepper squid may be hiding a bigger story.
Most of Australia’s frozen and chilled imported squid can’t be reliably traced back to its source fishery.
Much is imported from China, whose distant-water fishing fleets are responsible for the majority of global squid catch.
These fleets have been reported to engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as extensive human rights abuses.
Though populations of squid around the world are not deemed to be overfished, little is known about their ecological role making the lack of transparency in these supply chains concerning.
Choose Australian jig-caught Gould’s aka arrow squid or southern calamari from Victoria or South Australia.
Say no to snapper “Snapper” is used to describe a wide range of different fish, and after flake, it is one of the most commonly mislabelled seafood products in Australia.
That makes it especially important to ask your fishmonger exactly what species you’re buying and where it comes from.
Snapper populations (otherwise known as pink snapper) are unhealthy in New South Wales, and Queensland, and parts of Western Australia. In New Zealand , snapper trawling poses a high risk to marine mammals and seabirds but some important reforms are underway.
In Western Australia, snapper net fisheries are known to catch endangered Australian sea lions.
Instead, look for Victorian or South Australian snapper, which is a sustainable choice.
Say no to flake It’s time we all gave flake a break.
Flake should only refer to shark meat from gummy or rig sharks, but in reality, shark and ray products have some of the highest mislabelling rates in Australia.
A 2023 study found that 70% of shark products sampled were mislabelled, with 10% identified as endangered species. This makes it extremely difficult for consumers to know what they’re really buying.
Even when it is genuinely gummy shark, there are serious sustainability concerns. These include the continued catch and legal sale of endangered school sharks, as well as nets posing a high risk to endangered Australian sea lions in Western Australian fisheries.
Try barmed barramundi and Murray cod, sand whiting from New South Wales, or farmed silver perch — all sustainable choices for your Easter table.