Clean Seas Tuna chairman Hagen Stehr has hit out at plans to ship iron ore from Port Lincoln, saying it would be detrimental to not only the fishing industry, but also Eyre Peninsula’s grain industry.

Mr Stehr said grain exporters could expect the same risks of iron ore contamination as the fishing industry if Centrex Mining’s plans to export iron ore from Port Lincoln went ahead. The risk of contamination would be “devastating” for both industries, Mr Stehr said.

Mr Stehr last month threatened to move Clean Seas operations off Eyre Peninsula if Centrex Mining was given the go ahead to export from Port Lincoln.

The Clean Seas head argued that, even if the impact from mineral exports was visibly low, the perception that seafood and iron ore were being exported from the same port will damage the ‘clean green’ image of the local fishing industry.

“The seafood industry in Port Lincoln is a sustainable industry and will one day export more than $1 billion each year from here...this mining operation will never do that,” Mr Stehr said.

Mr Stehr said he had seen “many companies come and go” from Port Lincoln, “promising to do everything for us” but the seafood industry had remained constant.

Mr Stehr is confident the needs of EP’s long-standing grain and seafood export industries will outweigh the priorities of the burgeoning local mining industry when Centrex Mining’s crown development application comes before the SA Minister for Mineral Resources Development.

“This is a small mining company worth less money than the seafood industry has spilt over the years, so why would they get their way over us?”