Skate shareholder campaign: collusion allegations, investor dissent, and some wins!

Things are starting to heat up for the third year of the globally significant shareholder campaign, ‘Save the Skate’, which is the first to challenge major retailers for selling unsustainable farmed salmon. 

For the last two consecutive years, large institutional investors –  including Canadian pension funds BCIMC, CIBC, BMO, PSP, and TD, that represent millions of members – have helped the campaign achieve globally significant votes calling on Australian retail giants Woolworths and Coles to take action for the endangered Maugean skate – an ancient species being driven to extinction by polluting salmon farms in Tasmania.  

In a huge win, both retailers have removed claims of ‘responsibly sourced’ from all Tasmanian farmed salmon. Coles has also taken another notable step by establishing a Nature-risk Roadmap for all their own-brand products across all commodity supply chains, with seafood being prioritized as ‘high-risk’. They have also reduced their salmon supply from the area where the Maugean skate lives.  

But despite this significant progress, both retailers continue to source farmed salmon that is directly linked to the demise of an animal as old as the T-Rex.  

That is why the campaign has turned its focus on companies’ director elections for 2026, since ultimately it is the boards of these two retailers who should be listening to their shareholders (aka the owners of the companies!) and making the necessary decisions because their companies' bottom line – and our planet – are at stake.  

Votes against director elections are often used to signal shareholder dissent. For example, several Climate Action 100 investors voted against the re-election of a Woolworths’ committee chair in 2024 as a way to hold the board accountable for climate inaction.   

In the lead up to the elections, things are already heating up, with both companies being accused of ‘a kind of collusion’ over the issue. Such allegations are significant given that Australia’s food retail market is highly concentrated, with the two companies controlling around two-thirds of the market.   

Further to this, the Australian National Contact Point for the OECD accepted a complaint from Environment Tasmania against Woolworths, alleging the retailer has failed to act on the harm caused by their salmon supply chains as expected under the OECD Responsible Business Conduct Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.  

The campaign is a collaboration between SIX and several ethical funds, trusts, and civil society groups, including Living Oceans. We will continue to provide our expertise and support to the campaign. Stay tuned! 

Photo credit SIX.