Located 150 miles off the Australian mainland, and roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland, the island state of Tasmania sits in the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean. There is no land mass to the west until you reach Argentina, 10,000 miles away and nothing below until you hit the great, white continent. Its geography and relative isolation have meant that Tasmania has developed an international reputation as holding some of the most untouched coastlines in the world. Indeed, Tasmania’s official tourism body advises visitors that they should expect to find ‘secluded arcs of white sand’, ‘succulent seafood’ and ‘adventure in wild places’.

In February, however, as the Australian summer was drawing to a close, an unusual substance began washing up on some of these beaches. Chunks of rotting fish, pushed in by tidal currents, left local people at Verona Sands, an hour down the road from Tasmania’s capital of Hobart, alarmed and concerned. After investigation, the fish were found to be Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and were alleged to have come from a fish farm lease nearby, many which dot Tasmania’s waterways.

Over the past two months, it has been estimated that over one million farmed salmon died in a mass mortality event caused by a bacterium outbreak. The revelation has further inflamed local debate about the operations of the salmon industry and raised an issue into national consciousness that has been simmering for decades. And now, with a national election due in May, the future of Tasmania’s Atlantic salmon agribusinesses is firmly on the table. 

While the Salmo genus is native to the northern hemisphere, farmed salmon has been a popular Australian protein source for some years. Atlantic salmon are farmed in large numbers in the cooler waters of Tasmania, the fjords of New Zealand and in Chile.

Tasmania’s physical geography has proven it to be an aquaculture haven. The island has numerous safe bays, coves and lagoons, a number of which have been steadily leased by salmon farmers. Atlantic salmon is now worth over A$1 billion per year (500 million pounds) and is one of the state’s largest industries. However, controversy has dogged salmon producers for years with allegations of environmental pollution, overuse of antibiotics and the liquidation of native species such as fur seals and cormorants that prey on the salmon.

Now, in the aftermath of the mass mortality event in February, video has surfaced of employees at facilities owned by one of the farmers, Huon Aquaculture, sealing live fish in tubs alongside deceased ones. This has since resulted in Huon’s RSPCA status being revoked indefinitely. Huon Aquaculture did not respond to requests for comment. However, in a statement, Huon’s General Manager of Stakeholder Engagement and Government Relations, Hannah Gray, said that “the actions captured in the footage do not reflect Huon’s stringent standards or our established protocols”. 

“Since the start of this unprecedented disease outbreak, Huon has been transparent with regulators and the community and will continue to engage proactively,” Gray said. “Despite our disappointment at this incident, we are committed to upholding our high standards of animal welfare.” 

One of the leading groups challenging the industry is Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) which was formed out of concern due to the salmon industry’s operations, including the use of chemicals in coastal waterways. The issue has become so topical in Tasmania that Peter George, NOFF’s President and a former foreign correspondent, has taken leave from the organisation to contest the federal seat of Franklin, where much of the salmon industry is concentrated. 

Lisa Litjens, the President of NOFF in George’s absence, told Oceanographic that she was “deeply concerned about the gross overuse of antibiotics by Huon Aquaculture and other multinational salmon companies,” flagging that the concern stems not just from the recent use following the bacterium outbreak, but the “continued practice over many years.”

“Warming waters all over the globe have given rise to more and more diseased farmed salmon — over a million fish have died in southern Tasmania in recent weeks — and the subsequent significant rise of antibiotic use,” Litjens said.  

“We can only hope that the RSPCA’s dis-endorsement of Huon and the tidal wave of outright rejection by increasingly vast numbers of Tasmanians will set the precedent for drastic change in the wider salmon industry: a sentient animal grossly overstocked in pens and unable to migrate to open water, as is its natural habit, is cruelty,” she added.

The mass mortality event comes at a challenging time for the global salmon industry. Open-net pen salmon farming is to be banned in British Columbia and in Washington state. Argentina has reportedly rejected salmon farming in Tierra Del Fuego province, effectively meaning that Argentina as a whole has banned the industry. 

In Tasmania, however, the industry is planning to expand. There are currently applications to open up leases across the state, including in Storm Bay, close to Hobart. Salmon Tasmania, which is the peak body representing producers, has argued that the expansion will bring financial investment to regional Tasmania and open up further job opportunities. Its website claims that there are currently over 5,000 jobs connected to salmon farming and is the leading farming industry in Tasmania, as well as the largest ‘fishery’ by volume and economic value in Australia.

However, these numbers are disputed by the think tank the Australian Institute: in a report from 2023, it found that salmon farming employed, at most, 1,700 jobs, which represents under 1% of Tasmania’s employment. Salmon Tasmania did not respond to requests for comment.

While February’s mass mortality event has sparked news across Australia, Atlantic salmon farming has also been in the headlines recently for another reason: the survival of an ancient species. 

On Tasmania’s west coast lies Macquarie Harbour. This huge body of water, protected by the swell of the Southern Ocean, has seen its share of controversy over the past two centuries— in the 19th as the site of a notorious British penal colony and in the dying years of the 20th by the fight against a giant hydroelectric dam planned for the area. 

Now, the concern is focused upon the Maugean skate (Zearaja maugeana), a 60-million-year-old, critically endangered species and one of the rarest sharks or rays in the world. Macquarie is recognised as one of the few remaining homes of the skate – and is also one of the key areas for the Tasmanian salmon industry. Where these two considerations meet is that the oxygen levels in the harbour have deteriorated in recent years, threatening the survival of the species.

Opponents have blamed the introduction of fish farming, as faecal waste and fish feed can lead to oxygen depletion. Salmon producers argue that their industry is just one of several reasons why water quality has lessened over the last decade – namely, because of manipulated river flows to maintain hydroelectricity production.

In response, the Tasmanian government – with the support of Salmon Tasmania –  implemented a program to improve oxygen levels in the harbour as well as a captive breeding program for the skate. A recent report from the University of Tasmania says that there appears to be a “recent upward trend in the relative abundance of the species” in the area. The lead scientists note that while “cautiously optimistic” there is “still a long way to go” in the “long-term trajectory of recovery of this endangered species.”

The federal election will be held on 3 May and both the ruling Australian Labor Party and its conservative opposition, the Liberal Party of Australia, have endorsed salmon farming to continue not just in Macquarie Harbour but across Tasmania. 

The Australian Greens and multiple independent candidates have opposed the industry and have put the issue on the international stage. In March, actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio called for an end to salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour in a bid to save the Maugean Skate.

One thing seems certain: salmon farming in Tasmania will remain an explosive issue whatever is decided at the ballot box in May.