Today an RTI was published by the Department of Natural Resources that detailed horrific numbers of salmon mortalities from leases in Macquarie Harbour.
1,149,795 kilograms of salmon carcasses were pulled out of the waters of Macquarie Harbour from spring 2023 to the end of summer 2024. Diseased and deformed fish make up the numbers of fish that have died a horrible death.
The toxic truth and animal welfare horror of industrial salmon farming is laid bare in these shocking numbers.
The enormous number of mortalities is most likely the result of overstocking and not environmental factors. It has been acknowledged globally that overstocking of pens causes spikes in deaths.
Industry insiders have suggested stocking numbers have been causing huge mortality numbers all over the state.
It has to be recognised that Macquarie Harbour carries only a fraction of the states salmon biomass. If these numbers are extrapolated over the whole state, there is likely well over 20,000,000 kilograms of dead fish hauled out of our waters and dumped.
What we do know is that there were 66 “mortality events” statewide between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, only seven of those were in Macquarie Harbour. Forty were in the Huon / D’Entrecasteaux Channel region, twelve in Storm Bay, six in the Tasman Peninsula area and one up at Oakhampton Bay.
We also know that facilities designed to render down dead fish are overwhelmed and can’t cope. Excess carcasses, numbered in their millions are dumped around the state or ground up and sprayed over farmland.
We don’t know the exact numbers or weight of dead fish statewide because the EPA, at the behest of the industry, has hidden them from the public despite multiple attempts to uncover the truth.
As recently as Budget Estimates the EPA denied this data exists and refused the Greens attempts to uncover it. Minister Duigan sat idly by during this exchange.
The addiction to secrecy on this issue is obscene and the animal welfare issues are disgraceful. The salmon industry’s dirty secret is coming to light and the government needs to explain to Tasmanians why they think this is okay.
We need the exact numbers of mortalities, we need to know what these poor animals are dying from and we need to know what effect this is having on our precious waterways and native wildlife.
No farmer on land would get away with this level of cruelty and loss, why does the salmon industry?
