Australian supermarket giant Woolworths will be the first company in the world to face a shareholder resolution aiming to prevent an extinction event.
At the Woolworths AGM on 31 October, company shareholders will be asked to vote on whether Woolworths should stop sourcing farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania, and give the Maugean skate its only chance at survival.
Salmon produced in Macquarie Harbour, a product sold in Woolworths’ stores, threatens the existence of the endangered Maugean skate. Population numbers have plummeted to an estimated 40-120 adult skate. The Australian Government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee noted the primary threat to the Skate is degraded water quality due to increases in salmon aquaculture, and that reducing salmon farming was urgent to recover the Skate’s critical habitat.
The shareholder resolution has been lodged by activist share trading platform SIX on behalf of 121 Woolworths shareholders. The resolution has been lodged with the support of leading ethical advice groups Ethinvest, Ethical Investment Advisers and Tasethical, as well as leading NGOs Environment Tasmania, Neighbours of Fishing Farming, Eko, and Living Oceans Society. Almost a quarter of the shareholders who filed the resolution live in Tasmania.
SIX CEO Adam Verwey said “It’s astonishing a company that promotes itself as a leader in sustainability needs its shareholders to step in to stop a likely extinction event.”
“Given the urgency of the situation with the Maugean skate, we thought this would be something Woolworths would agree to act on without the need for a shareholder resolution. To stop contributing to an extinction requires changing just a small part of their salmon supply.”
Macquarie Harbour salmon accounts for a small percentage of all Woolworths Own Brand farmed salmon sold in its stores, which constitutes a small part of the company’s AUD$50 billion sales revenue from its Australian food division.
The resolution seeks to end Woolworths sourcing salmon from Macquarie Harbour by 30 April 2025.
Kelly Roebuck, Living Oceans representative and Environment Tasmania Vice Chair said, “It has been over a year since the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies' emergency interim report showed the Maugean skate population had dropped by 47% between 2014-2021. We’ve since heard there is only an estimated 40-120 adult Maugean skate. Yet Woolworths keeps dragging their heels on taking any action.”
“To make matters worse, Woolworths have been putting ‘responsibly sourced’ stickers on Macquarie Harbour salmon. Putting sustainability labels on Macquarie Harbour salmon is greenwashing an extinction event”
Australia’s peak seafood certifier, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), states that none of the 11 salmon farming sites in Macquarie Harbour complies with their standards. The certifications the company is relying on, Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and GlobalGAP, are facing calls from more than 80 global conservation groups to decertify Macquarie Harbour salmon.
Adam Verwey said “SIX will be lodging a similar resolution to Coles Group within the next week. Coles have at least acknowledged the concerns with Macquarie Harbour salmon in their Sustainability Report, whereas it didn’t get a single mention in the Woolworths Sustainability Report”.
“The resolution to Woolworths will also be one of the first tests of how seriously large investors like super funds are considering nature risks. Woolworths is exposing all of its investors to an extinction risk, and the company’s largest investors are going to need a plan for how they respond to that given their own sustainability and nature commitments”, Verwey continued.
