Over 200 people attended a rally organised by Neighbours Of Fish Farms (NOFF) at Eggs and Bacon Bay on Sunday, March 29.
Speakers at the rally included local resident Dr Steve Ireland, chef and film producer Kirsten Bacon, Independent member for Franklin Peter George, leader of the Tasmanian Greens Rosalie Woodruff, Environment Tasmania campaigner Jess Coughlan, and environmental campaigner Bob Brown.
Many people were on kayaks and in dinghies in the shallows, listening to the speakers.
Dr Ireland spoke about the difficulties caused by growing antibiotic resistance on a global scale, stating that the World Health Organisation has identified antimicrobial resistance as a top global public health issue.
He noted that discharging large amounts of antibiotics into salmon pens is a way of promoting increased resistance and making infections much more problematic to treat in the future.
There were complaints of noise and light from fish-farm ships, as well as plastic and antibiotic pollution; petitions were circulated.
The rally also addressed the loss of social licence, or credibility, of the salmon farming industry as highlighted in a recent report from the CSIRO.
Based on the responses of over 900 Tasmanians with an interest in the marine environment, the study found that there was pervading negativity about the salmon industry from almost everyone except those employed by it.
After words from Bob Brown, a local of the area, the crowds were entertained by a school of fluttering red-handfish dancers with the tagline of POWW (Protect Our Wild Waterways).
