Conservationists expressed alarm that the federal government may allow similar measures during a three-year trial in commonwealth waters to be overseen by the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), a government-funded not-for-profit company that lists the salmon companies Tassal, Petuna and Huon Aquaculture as partners. Salmon at a farm in Tasmania ‘Battery-hen farming of the sea’: sustainable alternatives to eating salmon Read more Seals in commonwealth waters are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. It is an offence to kill, injure or move them without a permit. “The minister for environment must ban all cruel seal deterrents,” said Bec Howarth, a fish farm and marine campaigner with the Bob Brown Foundation. The foundation opposes the trial, describing it as a “sea grab”.