At Coles Annual General Meeting (AGM) today, shareholders will consider a motion that could help save the endangered Maugean skate.
The Australia Institute has documented how salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour is endangering the Maugean skate, and the harbour’s World Heritage value along with it.
Salmon farming has been associated with lower oxygen levels in the water downstream, and that’s what is threatening the extinction of the Maugean skate. Just before the federal election, Labor and the Coalition teamed up to weaken nature laws so that salmon farming could continue in Macquarie Harbour. The law that was rammed through parliament removes democratic rights to appeal government decisions and increases the likelihood that native species will become extinct.
But there is a fresh attempt to save the skate, this time through the private sector. Shareholders in Australia’s big two supermarkets have designed action to reduce the sales of salmon from Macquarie Harbour.
Shareholder activist and ethical investment group SIX has been following worldwide shareholder activism involving what it calls “nature resolutions.” These are proposals for shareholders to vote at AGMs on particular environmental issues related to a company’s business practices. SIX’s newsletter says Woolworths shareholders have just participated in the most widely supported vote for a nature resolution so far this year, anywhere in the world. The next highest was a nature resolution at the annual general meeting of the American company PepsiCo calling on it to assess and report on its vulnerability to risks associated with biodiversity loss.
Shareholders are trying to influence the way Woolies and Coles market the salmon sourced from the offending fish farms. Hence, at Woolworths’ recent annual general meeting (AGM), there were two resolutions intended to save the skate. The resolution most directly relevant said:
5(b) Farmed seafood reporting
Shareholders request that Woolworths identify and report on the impacts of farmed seafood it procures for its Own Brand products on endangered species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) List of Threatened Fauna in its 2026 Sustainability Report.