Media release – RSPCA, 8 March 2024
RSPCA Australia statement on certification of Huon Aquaculture
On Thursday afternoon, the RSPCA Approved Certification Committee met and decided to suspend Huon Aquaculture’s RSPCA Approved certification.
The Certification Committee made the decision to suspend Huon Aquaculture’s certification, as an initial step, because of breaches of clauses 1.01 and 2.11 of the RSPCA Approved Standard.
The suspension is in place for an initial period of 14 days while we undertake further enquiries.
The inhumane handling of live, sick or injured fish as shown in the video being circulated is completely unacceptable.
We will continue to follow our established processes in relation to this matter and will have more to say in due course.
As the public response to this incident shows, animal welfare in farming is incredibly important to Australians, and this is no different when it comes to aquaculture. Fish are sentient animals capable of pain and suffering, which is why the RSPCA Approved Standard exists in the first place.
Media statement – Huon Aquaculture, 8 March 2025
Huon Aquaculture’s Response to RSPCA Certification Suspension
Huon Aquaculture acknowledges the RSPCA’s decision and is participating fully in the investigation.
Huon has had a long association with the RSPCA, which set a higher standard for aquaculture practices in Australia.
“The actions captured in the footage do not reflect Huon’s stringent standards or our established protocols,” said Hannah Gray, General Manager of Stakeholder & Government Relations. In normal operations, moribund fish are very rarely pumped during mortality retrieval, and humane euthanasia procedures are followed if necessary.
Upon learning of these actions, Huon immediately informed the RSPCA and launched a full internal investigation. “Huon has been transparent about the impact of the unprecedented disease outbreak that has resulted in mortality across salmon farms in south east Tasmania,” Ms Gray said.
In February, Huon spoke publicly about a bacteria affecting salmon in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.
“Since the start of this unprecedented disease outbreak, Huon has been transparent with regulators and the community and will continue to engage proactively,” Ms Gray said. “Despite our disappointment at this incident, we are committed to upholding our high standards of animal welfare.”
Media release – Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, 8 March 2025
Update – Tasmanian salmon mortality event
The Tasmanian Government acknowledges the community concerns as our salmon farmers deal with the unprecedented seasonal ‘spike’ mortality event that has unfolded in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel over recent weeks.
Dr Scott McKeown (Acting Director of Public Health), has reiterated previous advice that “the presence of fatty fish material on beaches, while unpleasant and smelly, will not harm health”. Public health advises that people should not handle or consume the fish material, and avoid activities that will bring you into contact with it. Leaving such material alone eliminates any risk.
The State’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Mr Kevin de Witte issued a statement earlier this week confirming that “the marine bacterium Piscirickettsia salmonis (P. salmonis) is an endemic fish pathogen and it does not cause human disease. The oil and bacteria are not a risk to domestic animals. It is not considered to pose a known risk to the environment as “it is endemic to eastern and south-eastern Tasmanian marine waters and specifically only impacts salmonoids”. Fresh water salmonoids are unlikely to be impacted as it is specific to marine environments.
The bacteria is being managed by veterinarians through the approved use of antibiotics only rarely and when necessary – no different to any other animal illness. A vaccine has been developed and is being used to protect salmon from this bacteria.
Tasmania salmon farmers are working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove mortalities and to limit any further impacts to beaches or the marine environment. This remains an active response, and investigations underway will inform future management of seasonal mortality events. It is imperative that our farmers are allowed to safely conduct their response activities.
The Tasmanian Government remains confident that Tasmanian salmon products are of the highest quality.
Some matters remain under investigation by the Environment Protection Authority and NRE Tas. The Tasmanian government is aware that the RSPCA has suspended Huon Aquaculture’s certification while it investigates the allegation. This is a matter for the RSPCA. Huon Aquaculture is taking the matter extremely seriously by conducting their own investigation. Salmon farmers, staff and contractors are cooperating with these agencies.
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 8 March 2025
Salmon Tasmania’s apology is rotten to the bone
The recent apology from Salmon Tasmania reveals how much damage they have done to their own fish and Tasmania’s environment. With these factory farms of the sea being nothing but a source of death, disease and suffering for over two weeks, the damage to both Tasmania’s environment and its brand is enormous.
Bob Brown Foundation is calling on the Tasmanian Government to immediately and permanently remove all fish farms from Tasmania’s waters and for the RSPCA to drop all certification of Tasmanian farmed salmon.
“For Salmon Tasmania to ask for ‘understanding and support’ from the communities they have run roughshod over for years is beyond galling,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation
“This is the same Salmon Tasmania that, when faced with the extinction of a unique Tasmanian animal, said they wouldn’t give up ‘one fish’ to help save the Maugean skate. Now they have killed millions of their own fish with their factory farming methods, they want understanding. It’s outrageous.”
“This catastrophe is not just a ‘natural vagary.’ This is the direct result of excessive nitrogen pollution, overstocking of pens, corrupt governance and a consequent failure to regulate, all directly attributable to the foreign-owned salmon corporations’ endless greed.”
“These mass mortalities are not a one-off event. They will only increase as waters warm and these massive corporations continue to overstock their factory farm cages. From Chile to Scotland and Canada, the world is waking up to the fact that this industry is an environmental and animal welfare disaster.”
“These huge cages crammed with salmon are spilling rotting flesh into our waterways, with fish being left to suffocate and die. This is an industry out of control.”
“The Prime Minister must rethink his blind support for this industry because there is no coming back from the horrible images the Tasmanian public have now seen of its cruel, polluting methods. There is no forgetting the chunks of rotting salmon washing up on local beaches.”
“For the Prime Minister to attempt to exempt this industry from federal environmental laws in the wake of the carnage on our waterways would be madness,” said Alistair Allan.
I really appreciated your article regarding the recent events at Huon Aquaculture as fish welfare is an issue that often goes overlooked in the media. While disheartening to see such distressing footage of live salmon being placed alongside dead fish, it is so important footage like this is seen by the public as it helps raise serious concerns about animal welfare across the industry.
I am glad to read of Huon’s commitment to launching a full investigation but one cannot help but feel skeptical about the effectiveness of such measures, especially given the repeated instances of animal suffering within this industry. The assurances from management seem hollow in light of this latest incident, and it appears that despite their claims of humane practices, the reality on the ground tells a different story.
The scrutiny from both the public and government is long overdue, and one can only hope that this will lead to meaningful changes rather than just empty promises. The welfare of these animals should be a priority, not an afterthought.
Thank you again for addressing the issue of fish welfare.
– Sara Crane, Toronto
Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF), 8 March 2025
The public wants to hear from salmon company CEOs, hiding behind the facade of false apology
Yesterday Salmon Tasmania’s Luke Martin apologised on behalf of the industry abc.net.au/news/2025-03-07/salmon-tasmania-apologises-for-mortality-event/105024028
Grassroots local environment group Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) calls out the failures rampant throughout Tasmania’s salmon industry and wants to hear from the decision makers responsible.
The two salmon farming companies in the state’s southeast are floundering in a biosecurity crisis that has been a long time coming. Poor practices and planning for warm weather threats have led them here.
This week, Surveyors Bay, Randalls Bay, Drip Beach and Kays Beach on the Huon River have become newly reported sites of the fatty tide first discovered at Verona Sands, with globules washing ashore.
With convenient timing, Huon Aquaculture CEO Henri Batista has flown the coup, taking up a new position overseas, while his replacement – Charles von der Heyde from Pilgrim’s Mexico, a subsidiary of scandal prone Brazilian parent company JBS Meats – is being left to deal with the mess.
Meanwhile, Tassal CEO Mark Ryan is nowhere to be found as the industry’s reputation is shredded by its largest-ever fish deaths event that has been covered daily by national news media.
Jess Coughlan, campaigner at Neighbours of Fish Farming said: “Luke Martin’s apology is not accepted. As news of four more much loved beaches impacted by the fatty tide of diseased salmon remains emerge, an empty apology is the last thing we want to hear.”
“We want the CEOs to stand up and deliver a watertight plan that prevents anything like this from ever happening in our public waterways again. And that is a transition to land based farming technologies.”
“We have been down the route of new environmental standards, we have read the reports delivered by the Legislative Council fin fish Inquiry of 2022 and the Senate Inquiry of 2015. Those reports offered recommendations, and it’s time they were taken up by the State Government.”
“The public has a total and utter lack of confidence in industry operations at present. These multinational owned companies have no social licence. Their decisions are fuelled by rapacious greed that has turned our beloved waterways into open sewers: cesspits of death and disease.”
“Will we be checking the tidelines of the Huon River and Estuary and nearby waterways for fatty deposits every summer until those intensive industrial feedlots are out of our rivers and bays.”
“Of course we sympathise with the salmon farm workers – these are horrific conditions to be working in – but it is the decisions of their CEOs that have led these companies where they are.”
Some anecdotal comments on social media sites in the Huon Valley. The first report is saying the trucks have been operating 24/7 for the past two weeks travelling along the Huon Highway.
“Some of the trucks were coming through town well over 80kph and then powering on as they got past Petty Sessions at night. Wish there had of been a speed camera in town. Rattled the windows in our house every time.”
“The day after the Verona sands news broke I was going to Hobart via Huonville. Had to stop at Grand hotel for traffic, truck went by and the smell was so bad people on the street were visually gagging as we were. I knew exactly what it was. Hence why I think they changed the times to go through Huonville to attract minimal attention.”
Editor’s note: the Tasmanian Government, Labor Party and the Greens have been invited to comment on this development.
