Tasmania’s salmon industry faces disease outbreak.
Salmon farms in southeast Tasmania are experiencing increased mortality rates due to a bacterial disease affecting farmed fish.
The outbreak has led to mass die-offs in offshore pens, with Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) confirming it is monitoring the situation.
Huon Aquaculture attributed the deaths to a rickettsia bacteria disease, a known issue in Tasmanian aquaculture. The company has begun administering antibiotics to affected fish at one of its sites, according to broadcaster ABC. According to the EPA, multiple factors—including water temperature and disease—have contributed to the higher-than-usual mortality rates in recent weeks.
Industry group Salmon Tasmania acknowledged the impact on producers. “In the context of a 5 to 10 percent mortality rate in a pen holding tens of thousands of fish, the numbers add up,” said Luke Martin, CEO of Salmon Tasmania.
Tasmania’s EPA is also investigating reports of unidentified biological material that has washed ashore near several salmon farms. The agency has not disclosed the volume of antibiotics used but confirmed they are regulated under veterinary oversight.
