The salmon industry wants to use florfenicol and effectively shut down parts of Tasmania’s wild caught fisheries again this summer. They’re planning to pay off wild fishers to do it, but some have spoken passionately against it, calling it akin to accepting the end of their livelihood.
It’s not clear how compensation for shutting down whole sections of an industry would work, or if wild fishers would even accept the pay off. We’re not talking about a quick and simple localised shut down period, as the salmon industry wants people to believe. Last time florfenicol was used, it was found in wild fish more than ten kilometres away from the closest salmon pen.
The salmon industry is attempting to make the mass use of antibiotics and the permanent shutdown of sections of the wild caught fishing industries the new normal. If the government takes no action, last year will be the beginning of a cycle where wild fishers will have their livelihoods taken away for months at a time on a year in, year out, basis.
The salmon industry are currently backed by the government, and presenting a false fait accompli to managing the diseased salmon outbreaks. But Tasmanians don’t have to accept the widespread use of antibiotics, or the shutdown of wild caught fisheries.
The first response, backed by environmental scientists, to prevent disease outbreaks spreading across salmon pens should be to destock fish pens. Intensive fish farming in increasingly warming waters is what is driving these animal welfare issues.
At the moment, the Liberal Government is allowing the global salmon industry to put their profits first. It’s time they stood up for local fishers and the value and Tasmanian specialness of our wild caught fishing industry.
