The full amount of florfenicol used by the salmon industry last summer has finally been revealed, with confirmation a massive 5.3 tonnes of the antibiotic was dumped into Tasmanian waterways.
This is a jaw dropping figure that will shock many Tasmanians. Given the huge quantity of florfenicol used, it’s no wonder there were significant impacts on wild-caught export industries.
It is outrageous the salmon industry was allowed to dump this much antibiotic into public waterways without being up-front with Tasmanians about exactly what they were doing. It’s only now, months after their permit for using florfenicol was suspended, that we’ve finally been given a full picture of the situation.
The industry has deliberately withheld this basic information as part of a shameless PR strategy. They hoped the public interest in the issue would decline and their multi-million ad campaign would start to repair their reputation.
It’s shocking the salmon industry’s secretive approach has been enabled by both the Rockliff Government and what should have been an independent EPA. Both the Minister and EPA Director have refused to require the release of this information previously, even when that would have been possible.
Most concerning is the salmon industry now wants to continue using more florfenicol in Tasmanian waters. Their desire is for a permanent permit that would allow them to continue heaving thousands of kilograms of antibiotics into public waterways every year. Given we’ve already seen the harms from just one summer’s use, and there’s been no science undertaken on the wider marine life impacts, what will happen to the environment and our wild-caught fisheries if this happens every year?
We have already seen enough negative consequences from florfenicol use in Tasmania to know that it is not something that should continue. The Rockliff Government needs to require salmon companies to remove stock from diseased pens instead of allowing them to pollute public waters with antibiotics.
