At today’s Coles Annual General Meeting in Melbourne, the company was questioned by shareholders over the hypocrisy in continuing to source salmon from Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, risking the extinction of the endangered Maugean Skate.

Shareholders with deep connections to the skate’s survival, including science, youth and Aboriginal voices, travelled interstate to the AGM. Shareholders urged Coles not to tie themselves and their investors to the extinction of this endangered species.

Prominent Tasmanian organisations Neighbours of Fish Farming and Environment Tasmania, with ethical share trading platform SIX, had co-filed shareholder resolutions to the company earlier this year.

While Coles has taken some steps in the right direction to recognise the serious harm the skate faces, the company is failing to match their words with concrete action.  

This year the company quietly removed the “responsibly sourced” labels from their own-brand Tasmanian salmon, which includes salmon from Macquarie Harbour. This seems to be a concession that contributing to the potential extinction of a prehistoric creature cannot be considered “responsible” business.

Yet Coles continues to source salmon from the Harbour, being one of the industry’s biggest customers - alongside Australia’s other supermarket giant, Woolworths.

Two weeks ago, 34% of Woolworths shareholders defied the board and voted in support of shareholder resolutions aimed at ending the company’s contribution to the potential extinction of the 60-million year old Maugean skate. This was the highest global vote for a nature-based shareholder resolution in 2025.

Lilly Henley, marine campaigner at Neighbours of Fish Farming said:

"Though Coles is making some progress, Tasmania’s salmon industry is still expanding - in part because of business with Coles. Coles talks about being a company that values responsibility and community, but continuing to sell salmon from Macquarie Harbour - the only home of the endangered Maugean Skate - shows that these values end at the checkout. It’s not enough to remove a label; they need to remove the product. Coles has a choice: stand with the industry, or with the people and places of Tasmania."‍

‍Jess Coughlan, campaigner at Environment Tasmania said:

"This creature has survived since Gondwana. It has lived through ice ages - and yet, it may not survive Coles’ supply chains.  Coles has an opportunity here to emerge as a leader and boost its environmental credentials, but the board is stalling on decisive action to source its seafood responsibly, away from Macquarie Harbour. Shoppers deserve better than to be served up complicity in extinction."‍

Spencer Hitchen, photographer and youth conservationist said:

"I am standing here on behalf of my generation, on behalf of the youth. Macquarie Harbour is an incredible place. Coles, if you want to turn this around, to have these waters be healthy for future generations, you do have the power to do so." ‍

Lyndon O’Neil, Palawa man and founder of Health Country Services and Consulting said:

"The Maugen skate cannot survive if we continue to support its demise. As a company with strong ties to the Tasmanian community, we carry a responsibility to the waters and landscapes that gave rise to our brand. Coles has positioned itself as a leader in responsible sourcing and sustainability. If we continue to sell salmon farmed from Macquarie Harbour, we undermine that promise.”

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