00:00Salmon industry worker Adam Saltmarsh is fearful of his future.
00:07For nine months, the Federal Environment Minister has been reconsidering salmon farming licences at Macquarie Harbour, where he works.
00:16I feel that we'd have to leave the West Coast to pursue work, which means uprooting my family and my kids from the school.
00:24They don't want to leave.
00:26He's taking his concerns to Canberra, along with local mayors, salmon company representatives and the union.
00:33We want to make sure that everyone knows what the industry means to the West Coast and also the wider Tasmania.
00:41Macquarie Harbour is the Morgean Skate's only home. Its population has declined by about half since 2014.
00:50And industrial salmon farming is considered the main culprit.
00:54Just last week, scientists advising the Federal Government reported that eliminating or significantly reducing salmon in the harbour was the quickest way to prevent the skate's extinction.
01:06We know that the skate is at risk and salmon fish farming is placing them at risk and needs to end in Macquarie Harbour.
01:13But we support action also for the workers who are in that industry.
01:19There have been scientific efforts to increase skate numbers, including a trial pumping highly concentrated bubbles of oxygen into the harbour,
01:27and a captive breeding program, which celebrated the hatching of its first skate last week.
01:33Despite no decision on salmon licences having yet been made, the Tasmanian government is suspicious.
01:40They're ready to kill it off because of their efforts to gain green votes in Melbourne and Sydney.
01:47This is a political play. Let's make no bones about that.
01:51A spokesperson for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says the government is carefully considering the information and scientific advice.
01:59They say people on all sides of the debate would agree the decision needs to be evidence based and legally sound.
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