The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is leaping to the defense of Tasmania’s farmed salmon industry and the hundreds of its members who depend on it for a living.

The sector earns Tasmania AUD796 (€495 million/$584 million) a year and more than AUD1 billion (€622 million/$733 million) once salmon is processed, according to AWU numbers.

The state’s aquaculture industry has suffered huge damage from significant and deliberate misinformation relating to ecological and animal welfare impacts, AWU said in a submission to the federal government’s House Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources.