A Right to Information request has exposed the brutal reality of Tasmania’s salmon industry, revealing a horrifying case where a protected Australian fur seal was trapped, repeatedly tranquilized, and left to die in a Tassal salmon pen.
The documents, highlighted in media releases from the Tasmanian Greens, the Bob Brown Foundation, and Neighbours of Fish Farming, detail the suffering of the seal and the drowning deaths of 15 cormorants in the same lease.
These groups are demanding an end to the use of lethal methods against native wildlife and calling into question the sustainability accreditations of companies like Tassal, which has a documented history of seal and seabird mortalities and the use of explosive deterrents.
Right to Information document here, which was released to Bob Burton, Tasmanian Enquirer NRE RTI 002 – 2025-26R
Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 25 August 2025
End The Salmon Industry’s Legalised Killing Of Wildlife
A Right to Information request has revealed more evidence of the legalised wildlife cruelty embedded in the Tasmanian salmon industry. A protected Australian fur seal was trapped in a Tassal salmon pen for a week, shot multiple times with tranquiliser guns, and subsequently died. The Tasmanian government needs to immediately end the legal shooting and explosive bombing of native wildlife.
The distress and cruelty inflicted on a sentient creature that was trapped, shot, and left for a week to die inside an industrial aquaculture pen in Tassal’s ‘West of Wedge’ lease beggars belief.
The lease was approved in 2018, with undertakings from Tassal the ‘sanctuary pens’ to be used there were “100% effective” in keeping seals out. This incident shows a company that is refusing to take the steps needed to protect native wildlife from the dangers of industrial farming operations.
In addition to the latest seal death, 15 cormorants were drowned in the same lease around the same time. Tassal’s West of Wedge lease has no bird netting despite the company commiting to install it. Mitigation measures such as ‘escape ramps’ for birds are clearly not effective, when 35 cormorants have died at this lease this year alone.
This industry’s cruel toll on nature continues to mount, with 42 seals having died in Tasmanian salmon farms since January 2021. Salmon companies have also used in excess of 26,000 explosive deterrents against these beautiful, protected animals.
Tassal’s West of Wedge lease has unquestionably exceeded the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s standards for “acceptable” native wildlife mortalities. Consumers have a right to know the truth about the farming operations that grow the salmon they purchase. We expect the ASC would question Tassal’s right to still have a sustainability accreditation for their products, given their record of animal cruelty.
It’s abundantly clear industrial salmon farming in Tasmania is out of control. Over 16,500,000 kilograms of diseased salmon have been disposed of in the last six months, with thousands more fish breaking up in the ocean and covering southern beaches in putrid fatty chunks.
Our wildlife needs immediate protection, and Primary Industries Minister Pearce should end the practice of shooting and bombing birds and mammals with explosives.
Media release – Neighbours of Fish Farming, 25 August 2025
Shocking deaths of marine mammals and birds at ASC accredited Tassal lease
A seal and 15 cormorants have died in the salmon pens, bringing the total this year to 35 cormorants and 2 seals at the West of Wedge lease, which carries an ASC certification, as reported in the Tasmanian Inquirer by Bob Burton today.
The ASC certification is used in point of sale marketing to convince consumers that the salmon they are buying meets the gold standard of sustainability and responsibility – an intention that is highly questionable given the disregard by the foreign owned industry for our state’s Natural Marine heritage, including wildlife.
NRET documents describe the death of a seal sedated in a salmon pen using darts, after it became trapped in the pen for a week.
Media Release – Bob Brown Foundation, 25 August 2025
Factory fish farms are graveyards for native wildlife and should be removed immediately
Shockingly in just one month, 15 native birds and one seal have drowned in a single Tassal industrial fish farm lease on the Tasman Peninsula.
Right to Information (RTI) documents have revealed a harrowing account of an adult seal being shot with sedatives multiple times, before finally drowning and being found at the bottom of a fish farm pen.
Tassal recently received an exemption from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), which allows them to continue using explosive deterrents on seals, despite the ASC’s supposed “zero tolerance” policy on their use.
Bob Brown Foundation is calling for the immediate removal of fish farms from Tasmania’s waters.
“These factory fish farms are graveyards for our native wildlife,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.
“If you are buying Tasmanian farmed salmon, you would never know that it is tainted with the blood of native seals and seabirds, but this is the grim reality.The seal that drowned was shot with sedatives, not once or twice, but five times over multiple days before finally succumbing and drowning in the pen.”
“The ASC must immediately stop certifying Tassal, and the Tasmanian Government needs to start removing these wildlife death traps from Tasmania’s oceans,” said Allan.
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