Big supermarket Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL) has publicly recognised the threat that salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour (Tasmania) poses to the endangered Maugean Skate.
This recognition comes after a year of sustained shareholder pressure from SIX and our Save the Skate campaign partners.
How we got here
In 2024, nearly 40% of shareholders rallied against the Coles board to support a world-first resolution to prevent the extinction of the Maugean Skate.
After Coles failed to act with the urgency the Skate and shareholders demanded, SIX - together with Neighbours of Fish Farming, Environment Tasmania and businessman Geoff Cousins - co-filed our resolutions to Coles for their 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Our first resolution called for Coles to identify and report on how the farmed seafood it sells impacts species under Australian's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in its Sustainability Report.
We did this to make them publicly disclose that they were harming the endangered Maugean Skate.
Coles has started moving in the right direction on the Skate
Through 2025, Coles have engaged with SIX and our campaign partners.
In this year's Sustainability Report, Coles has:
- undertaken an assessment of the threats of aquaculture on endangered species, like the Maugean Skate
- reviewed the EPBC Act's threatened fauna list
- publicly disclosed the results, naming impacted species
- and identified the risk Tasmanian farmed salmon poses to the Maugean Skate.
Coles has also now removed the "responsibly sourced" label from the home-brand Tasmania salmon.
We're encouraged to see this level of recognition and detail in Coles' 2025 Sustainability Report.
Coles' actions so far have put SIX and our campaign partners in a position where we were able to withdraw one of our resolutions!
This is huge! This shows that shareholder resolutions are an effective tool to get companies listening and acting. Coles are listening and moving in the right direction on the Skate.
Lisa Litjens, Vice President at Neighbours of Fish Farming, said:
The decision to withdraw one of our three resolutions is an act of good faith that the company will continue to do their due diligence. That they no longer label any Tasmanian farmed salmon as "responsibly sourced" should signal to consumers that there is a major problem with industrially-farmed salmon. There is absolutely nothing responsible about causing the extinction of a species. We applaud Coles for publicly recognising this.
We, and over 70 per cent of Tasmanians, expect a greater committment to sustainability than this. But we acknowledge it's a step in the right direction: product labelling plays an important role in consumer awareness. We will be holding Coles to their (published) commitment to transition away from sourcing farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour at the upcoming AGM.
What happens next
SIX and our campaign partners will still have a resolution on the table at the AGM, to draw attention to the Skate in front of shareholders and the media.
Our second resolution calls on Coles to improve their seafood policy to match global standards. If they did this, they would not be buying salmon from Macquarie Harbour which is driving the extinction of the Skate.
Our Save the Skate campaign against Woolworths is also continuing with all resolutions still standing as Woolworths have not taken steps to act with the uregency the Skate and investors need.
Plus, in case you missed it, this month Environment Tasmania filed an OECD complaint against Woolworths over harms to the Skate.
Together, we are changing the way companies do business
Keep an eye out for updates as we continue to keep the pressure on both Coles and Woolworths in the lead up to their AGMs to Save the Skate!
Header photo: Macquarie Harbour, credit: Environment Tasmania.
