A dispute with salmon company Tassal is being blamed for scuttling plans to use Dover to export woodchips. CEO of Southwood Fibre James Neville-Smith said the woodchip export
project planned for Dover would not go ahead due to an impasse with salmon giant Tassal. Source: ABC News
Tassal was worried about the impact the woodchip export facility would have on fish health.
“The issues between the salmon industry and the forest industry cannot be resolved at this site,” Mr Neville-Smith said. “We needed their support to progress further, which we thought we had.
“They decided, which is completely their right, that they weren’t willing to relocate the Stringers [Cove] lease or enter into those discussions.”
He said the decision to withdraw the woodchip proposal placed the local forestry industry at significant risk and vowed to look for a new site from which to export woodchips.
“Back to the drawing board in terms of finding a site that doesn’t have a salmon lease right out the front,” he said.
Tassal welcomed the news the project had been canned.
“The concern with the proposal was always in relation to the proximity of our lease because of biosecurity concerns,” the company said. “We have maintained this position from day one.”
Sandy Garland from the Far South Future group representing locals who campaigned against the woodchip exports said she was relieved.
“It’s been a battle since November 2017 when we first heard about this proposal … so getting back to our normal life will be fantastic,” she said.
Ms Garland said fighting against the proposed woodchip project became a full-time job for some of the people in the Dover community.
“To see the most important resource, our environment … for us to hold onto that that’s very heartening,” she said.
Former Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown, who also lives in the Huon Valley, celebrated the demise of the project.
He said it was “a victory for a community of 600 dedicated to preserving its lifestyle and job-rich hospitality industry”.
Mr Neville-Smith said the State Government assured him it would help his company find a new southern site for the woodchip export facility.
The Department of State Growth has commissioned former Forestry Tasmania executive Evan Rolley, who is also a former TasPorts board member, to investigate.
The Government said it would “continue to work with the Neville-Smith group and the wider industry on a way forward”.
Mr Neville-Smith said southern plantations were being logged and exported from the north of the state for very little profit and that he had been working hard to find a solution to woodchip exports since the Triabunna mill closed seven years ago.
The State Government said it supported both the salmon industry and the forestry industry.
