Reports florfenicol has been detected in the marine environment two months after it was last used are deeply concerning. The Liberals need to start being honest with Tasmanians, and stop backing the industry’s use of this controversial antibiotic.
ABC Radio has reported monitoring of florfenicol is continuing at two of Tassal’s salmon farm leases. Two months after the last florfenicol treatment, it appears levels of the antibiotic have still not fallen below the limit of reporting.
It’s deeply concerning florfenicol is persisting in the environment two months after the last treatment ended. It raises significant questions about the ongoing impacts of this antibiotic on both the marine environment and wild abalone and rock lobster fisheries.
Despite this, further information is being withheld from the public until, the EPA says, monitoring has been concluded. Given monitoring “is ongoing”, it’s unclear when this information will be released to Tasmanians.
Even after relentless questions and concerns raised by community members and local fishers, we still don’t know how much florfenicol has been used in marine waters, or its effect on the environment.
There’s no reason why international corporations, operating in Tasmanian public waterways, should be allowed to hide information about an untested antibiotic they’ve used. People have a right to know, in real-time, the levels of antibiotics still in the marine environment.
The salmon industry’s use of florfenicol had already endangered the exports of wild caught fisheries, and the APVMA has since suspended the industry’s permit to use it.
With 9,000 tonnes of farmed salmon mortalities recorded in the first three months of 2026, even while florfenicol was being used, it’s clear the current approach is failing to stop large number of fish dying, and is instead causing harms elsewhere.
The Rockliff Government should require the industry to remove diseased fish from pens and stop supporting the salmon industry’s push to continue to use florfenicol in Tasmanian waters.
