As consumers we are entitled to know the food we buy, the food we are served and the food that is supposed to nourish us is healthy, clean and actually good for us and the environment. Sustainable farming is needed - but those producers have an obligation to ensure not only the health of our food but also the environment.

As an east coast Tasmanian local I have personally witnessed the toxic impact of industrial salmon farming on the health of our onshore waterways since the mid 1990s. The shallow reefs and marine life surrounding fish farms are choking under a layer of pollution. We choose marine biodiversity over second rate salmon and don’t serve farmed salmon on our Tasmanian produce menu.

We live on beautiful Bruny Island. We source fresh, local produce for our business - Bruny Island Wild. We have watched the destruction and protested the growth of outdated, Salmon Feedlot practices for years. We continue to actively inform our customers about caged Tasmanian Salmon and why such a product will never be served at our restaurant.

Open net fish farming in Tasmania is unsustainable. Salmon and ocean trout are farmed in coastal waterways using industrial farming practices and come at a significant cost to the environment. As a chef, I believe I have a responsibility to serve produce that has been farmed ethically and sustainably, and to educate and promote the importance of small-scale, local and sustainable farming.

It’s time we all woke up and really started investing in our seas, to see where our seafood comes from and how it is farmed or caught! People buy the best premium farmed grass fed organic ethically raised beef , pork , sheep why not fish.

We have never used farmed salmon or ocean trout at McHugos. The industry has outgrown what may have had potential to be a well managed resource. Failure to protect the environment is my primary concern. The arguments regarding these products being a sustainable source of protein to feed the world need to be reevaluated, there needs to be more accountability for impacts on wild fish populations and the waterways used for recreation.

I actively boycott all Tasmanian farmed salmon and ocean trout. These ‘frankenfish’ are inhumanly farmed, have very little nutritional value and are having a devastating and irreversible impact on many of lutruwita’s marine ecosystems. The scale is already unsustainable and set to grow exponentially.

We have refused to use farmed salmon or ocean trout for the last ten years.

There is nothing sustainable about the exploitation of any product, especially knowing that the farming of said product is destroying the environment it’s farmed in. The only salmon served at Vanbone restaurant is cocky/australian a wonderfully sustainable school fish which in my option is a wonderful eating fish if treated correctly.