Belly Up: How Corporate Interests Are Keeping an Unsustainable Tasmanian Aquaculture Afloat and Failing to Protect the Welfare of the Nonhuman Animals Affected

Abstract

The Tasmanian salmon industry has become one of the state’s most profitable industries to date. Though production conditions notoriously lack transparency, there is a clear dependency on the mass production of complex nonhuman animals who are kept in inappropriate conditions and subject to harmful industry practices. This article explores why the Tasmanian Environmental Protection Agency recently approved the construction of the largest salmon hatchery in Australia, despite serious environmental sustainability and welfare concerns. It considers the likely impact of the new hatchery on the welfare of both the farmed nonhuman animals and the surrounding free ranging life and advocates for industry improvements that are guided by considerations of nonhuman animal welfare and environmental sustainability.

Keywords: administrative law, nonhuman animal law, nonhuman animal welfare, corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability, food law, Tasmania

JEL Classification: K23, K39, Q22, I28, I31, K32