Salmon farmers Tassal, Huon Aquaculture and Petuna are expanding their marine leases in the harbor to nine square kilometers.
The companies won State Government approval for the expansion in May and say a Federal Government review has made almost no changes to the plan.
Tassal managing director Mark Ryan says the move will allow his company to vastly increase production but can not yet say how many new staff his company will employ.
“At the moment, until we’ve got board approval for it, we’re not going to go through all the numbers other than to say we’ll significantly increase our production coming out of Macquarie Harbour.”
“Ultimately it could be as much as double,” he said.
The Resources Minister, Bryan Green, says the move will provide an economic boost to the region.
“[There’ll be] 100-odd people employed through construction, 160 people and ensuring that AUD 88 million-odd is spent in this important industry for the state,” he said.
West coast mayor Darryl Gerrity has told ABC Radio’s Country Hour program the expansion will benefit local engineering companies which already work with mining companies.
