Shareholders of Australian supermarket chain Woolworths have once again denied resolutions aiming to shift the company’s salmon sourcing policy.
Ethical share trading platform SIX (Sustainable Investment Exchange) had once again initiated the resolutions, calling for the company to stop sourcing any salmon farmed in Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania. The resolutions were co-filed by SIX and NGOs Environment Tasmania and Neighbors of Fish Farming (NOFF).
Despite the failure, Environment Tasmania said the effort garnered the highest global vote for a nature-based shareholder resolution in 2025, with 34 percent of shareholders voting for the move.
“The Woolworths board has been sent a big message from its shareholders to take their nature risks seriously,” SIX CEO Adam Verwey said in a release.
The resolutions were the latest attempt to change Woolworths’ salmon sourcing policy by the three organizations, who were responsible for what they dubbed a world first shareholder resolution in 2024 to push the company to stop sourcing salmon from the harbor. That push also failed, with shareholders denying to change its policies at Woolworths’ annual general meeting in 2024.
The vote was specifically targeting Macquarie Harbour because of the presence of the Maugean skate, a rare species endemic to the harbor. Studies have estimated there could be as few as 40 adult skates left, while another study by the University of Tasmania found the population could be recovering.
“How many years in a row must the shareholders deliver this message?” Verwey said. “This is two years in a row that the company has copped world record votes against the Board and in favour of taking action that could save the Maugean skate from extinction.”
Environment Tasmania has pushed for a complete ban on salmon farming in the harbor, and recently filed an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) complaint against Woolworths claiming the company’s own-brand salmon is causing harm to the species.
The Woolworths board said that it obtains advice from external seafood and animal welfare experts, and it requires that all seafood it sells be either certified by a third-party or independently verified as ecologically responsible.
“Specifically on Macquarie Harbour, we continue to be informed by scientific and government updates, including the determination made by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water on 14 August 2025 that allows salmon farming to continue in Macquarie Harbour,” the company said. “Latest scientific reports have also shown improvements in the estimated Maugean Skate population, and positive impacts from collaborative government and industry captive breeding and reoxygenation programs.”
NOFF said the company isn’t going far enough.
“The responsibly sourced Woolworths seafood claim is tin-eared to what is unfolding in Tasmania’s polluted waterways,” NOFF Campaigner Jess Coughlan said. “It’s time for Woolworths to make good on their promises to customers and fully disclose nature risk, and reassess stocking of any items in their supply chain that cause harm. The first priority must be assessing salmon farmed in Tasmania.”
