Saving the skate: using shareholder power to protect a species
Environment Tasmania's Jess Coughlan on the campaign trail.
The Save the Skate campaign is about protecting an endangered species from extinction. Like so many of the campaigns we support, it’s also about backing communities standing up for people and the planet.
Environment Tasmania and Neighbours of Fish Farming — together with partners including ethical share trading platform SIX Invest — have been steadily building pressure on Coles and Woolworths to stop sourcing salmon from Macquarie Harbour, the only home of the endangered Maugean skate. Salmon farming in the harbour has been linked to reduced oxygen levels in the water, the primary threat to the species’ survival.
The Australian Government’s response has been insufficient, and State and Federal politicians have repeatedly capitulated to the interests of the multinational corporations that profit from industrial salmon farming.
Attention has turned to the outsized influence of Australia’s major supermarkets. Thanks to their market dominance, Coles and Woolworths hold significant leverage over the salmon farming industry and convincing them to stop stocking Macquarie Harbour salmon is vital to protecting the skate.
A world-first shareholder campaign
In 2024, more than 200 shareholders — a quarter of them Tasmanians — came together to lodge the world’s first shareholder resolutions aimed at saving a species from extinction. The results were extraordinary.
At Coles’ Annual General Meeting, nearly 40 per cent of shareholders defied the board to vote in support of SIX Invest’s resolution, co-filed with Environment Tasmania and Neighbours of Fish Farming, calling on Coles to disclose the impacts of its farmed seafood on threatened species, including the Maugean skate. At Woolworths’ AGM, 30.42% of shareholders voted in favour, against the board’s recommendation.
Momentum continued into 2025. With backing from large institutional investors, including super funds, the campaign returned to both companies’ Annual General Meetings. At Woolworths, shareholder support grew to 34% — the highest-supported nature-risk resolution globally for a second year running.
The message was unmistakable: shareholders do not want the companies they invest in to be associated with an extinction event.
People power!
Environment Tasmania campaigner Jess Coughlan was one of several shareholders with deep ties to the skate’s survival to speak directly to the board at the Coles AGM.
“Having everyday Tasmanians represented — and I’m one of them — gives absolute legitimacy to this campaign. It means we can take the issues confronting Tasmanians day to day, as eyewitnesses to the destruction caused by the salmon industry, directly to the consumer or the minister. It’s a voice that’s often bypassed by big business, and it takes a lot of effort to amplify when you’re up against multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns from the salmon industry and the supermarkets.”
The sentiment isn’t confined to a handful of campaigners: 74% of Tasmanians polled by the Australia Institute support the Parliamentary Inquiry recommendation to move fish farms out of sheltered, inshore waters. Tasmanians want action.
“By lodging the resolutions with over 200 shareholders’ support, we were able to amplify the plight of the skate to millions of shareholders and portfolio investors around the world — audiences we would never have reached otherwise,” says Jess. “We were able to take the voices of people from right across Australia, including from remote areas of Tasmania, directly to the boards of the big supermarkets. And we were able to directly highlight the failure of certain certifications that are generally faulty or flawed. It’s been a great way to bring all these things together through one action.”
Pressure is shifting corporate behaviour
The campaign is having an impact. Over the past 12 months, Coles has taken meaningful steps in response to growing shareholder concern. The company has reviewed its seafood sourcing policy and removed the ‘responsibly sourced’ label from Tasmanian farmed salmon sold under its own brand. The Chair of the Coles Board has also stated that the company has reduced its sourcing from Macquarie Harbour and will cease sourcing altogether if science demonstrates the practice is unsustainable.
Woolworths’ response has been less encouraging. After the success of the resolution action, the company initially refused further meetings with Save the Skate campaigners, seeing Environment Tasmania lodge an OECD complaint against Woolworths over harms to the skate. This complaint has now been assessed and picked up by Australia’s National Contact Point.
“We now have a federal government body that is going to mediate sessions between Environment Tasmania and Woolworths,” says Jess. “This represents a significant opportunity for us to carry our engagement forward and reach a conclusion with real outcomes.”
Backing the strategy
The Reichstein Foundation has been closely involved since the campaign’s inception, including through shareholder actions with Coles and Woolworths. Thanks to our grant partners, it has delivered concrete corporate change, greater transparency around nature-related risk, and strengthened protections for the endangered Maugean skate.
It’s clear: investors expect companies to take nature risk seriously. The question is whether companies will move fast enough to respond. The skate — a creature that has survived for 60 million years — remains just one extreme weather event away from extinction.
