Media release – Craig Garland, independent MHA for Braddon, 4 March 2025
Why the Silence on the Mass Fish Kill?
A catastrophic event is unfolding in Tasmania’s salmon industry, yet the Government remains tight-lipped.
For weeks, a Rickettsia-like disease has been decimating salmon in southeastern fish pens. We’ve seen the grim evidence ourselves: decomposing fish washing up on once-pristine shores and disturbing footage from the Bob Brown Foundation showing dead fish floating in their pens.
Rickettsia is a transmissible disease, with certain strains posing risks not only to wild fish populations but also to human health. Given the scale of this crisis—one that threatens our largest primary industry—you’d expect the Government to provide regular updates.
Instead, we’ve heard nothing from the Government. No media releases. No reports. No transparency about the biosecurity risks, environmental impact or industry fallout.
Today in Parliament, I pressed the Premier on this secrecy. His response? The situation is still “unfolding,” and the Government has yet to grasp its full extent. He did, however, express an expectation that salmon companies would be open about the disaster.
Salmon Tasmania, the industry’s peak body, has stated that “our industry is required to report elevated mortalities to regulators, and our farmers have been keeping authorities appropriately updated”, but as late as yesterday, the EPA Director of Finfish compliance, Darryl Cook, stated on ABC Radio that the he didn’t know how many fish mortalities there were, and that new conditions “require companies to report the monthly weighted mortalities to us going forward, so those reports will start coming in this month.”
When Greens Leader, Dr Rosalie Woodruff asked if the Government would provide Parliament with the full details of this mass die-off, the Premier refused to commit.
This is not good enough. The public deserves answers. Are salmon companies going to tell the EPA the scale of fish deaths in this recent mortality event? Is the EPA going to tell the public? Is the Government going to tell the public? Or will deaths only be reported from March onwards, conveniently covering up the truth?
I will continue to push the Government to break its silence and be fully transparent about the scale of this environmental and industry disaster, because I have no confidence that the State Government or the salmon industry will be open and transparent with the public.
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 4 March 2025
Tasmanian Government must answer for complete failure to protect Tasmanians from the toxic salmon industry
More than two weeks after chunks of salmon fat and carcasses started washing up on beaches, Tasmania’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now confirmed that the health advice is not to touch or come into contact with the diseased salmon chunks and to avoid recreational activities in areas where the chunks and carcasses are present.
The news comes alongside the EPA confirming they have no idea how many salmon have died, despite the toxic salmon industry experiencing a crisis of mass mortalities in their factory farms.
Bob Brown Foundation is calling on Premier Rockliff to come clean to Tasmanians and explain why it took so long to inform communities and the public to not let their children and families play on beaches that have been polluted by the industrial salmon farms.
Bob Brown Foundation is also calling for a food and safety investigation into Tasmanian salmon because there is a risk that fish infected with the bacteria causing the mass deaths are being sold for human consumption.
“This is a complete betrayal of public health by the Tasmanian Government, covering up the damage caused by their corporate mates in the industrial salmon companies,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.
“It is now a matter of urgency for the salmon companies to confirm they are not selling fish that are sick or diseased to the Australian public.”
“Premier Rockliff must release all information he has about this unfolding disaster immediately, because the public can no longer trust that their health and safety is the government’s primary concern.”
“Prime Minister Albanese should also come and visit the communities in Tasmania that have had their waterways polluted and rendered unusable by an industry he is so willing to support blindly.”
“Tasmanians have seen how much PM Albanese likes to visit Tasmania. There can be no excuses from federal Labor. They must front up to communities affected by this unfolding disaster, instead of just visiting salmon farms for a photo opportunity every time the PM is in Tasmania.”
“This industry is a complete social and environmental disaster, from the huge damage they cause to our waterways, driving an animal to extinction, and causing pollution that means communities can’t even safely visit their local beach. It’s time to get fish farms out of Tasmania’s waters for good,” said Alistair Allan.
Media release – The Australia Institute Tasmania, 4 March 2024
The salmon industry finally comes clean
Ever since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s letter pledging to protect the foreign-owned salmon industry at the expense of world heritage wilderness, an ecological disaster has unfolded in Tasmania.
Mass farmed salmon deaths are continuing in southeast Tasmania, with rotting corpses washing up along the state’s beaches.
Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority appears to know very little about what is going on.
A similar event occurred in Macquarie Harbour last year, with 10 per cent of farmed fish dying.
Concern among Federal Parliamentarians is increasing with Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie and independent MP Andrew Wilkie calling out the unsustainable practices of the salmon industry in recent days.
Meanwhile, the science remains clear that salmon farms are the number one threat to the endangered Maugean skate, recognised for its world heritage value.
Now, the salmon industry has admitted the real number of local people whose jobs would be affected if the industry moved out of Macquarie Harbour.
“The Australia Institute has shown the real number of jobs for west coast locals in Macquarie Harbour is fewer than 76 since 2023,” said Eloise Carr, Director of The Australia Institute Tasmania.
“Now the salmon industry has finally owned up and admitted it’s 60, not the 400 so often claimed.
“Jobs like those in processing and administration, already based elsewhere, do not have to rely on industrial fish feedlots that destroy world heritage.
“This misleading behaviour may have caused the government to invest in oxygenation trials when in fact it would be more economically prudent to destock and provide direct support to affected workers.”
Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 4 March 2025
Rockliff lets salmon farming companies get away with rank pollution
Salmon farming companies have caused rank pollution of Tasmania’s waterways for weeks, but Premier Rockliff’s response to Greens’ questions in Parliament about reining in these giant corporates was extremely disappointing. The Premier is, yet again, letting them get away scot-free.
Diseased fish have been dying in their hundreds of thousands, with their putrid remains washing up on beautiful southern Tasmanian beaches. Bruny Island, the Tasman Peninsula and Verona Sands – these are extremely popular summer spots.
Salmon pollution has effectively closed these beaches during the peak of summer. Tasmanians who do brave the water have emerges stinking of salmon, and they can’t wash the smell off.
For weeks the EPA has played down the health impacts of rotting corpses and gross chunks of salmon washing up beaches. Disgracefully, they even compared it to fish oil supplements, which can be purchased from pharmacies as a health additive. That’s an irresponsible and potentially dangerous statement.
The EPA won’t even tell the public how many fish have died, or what from. Either they haven’t been told this from salmon companies, or they’re refusing to share it. Either way that’s an outrage.
It’s little wonder the EPA, meant to be Tasmania’s environmental watchdog, has no real teeth. The Rockliff Government have deliberately kept it weak to suit the interests of their mates in the aquaculture industry.
Now public health officials are warning locals not to touch the salmon remains. Tasmanians aren’t stupid – they’ve been raising their concerns of the health implications of this rank pollution for weeks now, and avoiding their favourite beaches.
It’s past time the Rockliff Government reins in salmon companies against the gross harm they’re causing our marine waters. They have to be fully transparent with Tasmanians about everything that’s happened.
The Premier should undertake a proper investigation into these mass fish deaths and the implications for Tasmania’s people and environment.
