More than a tonne of antibiotics was used to control a potentially deadly fish disease at two salmon farms in southern Tasmania earlier this year, but the companies and government made no public announcements at the time.
Reports submitted to the Environment Protection Agency by Tassal and Huon Aquaculture revealed wild fish had scavenged antibiotic-laced pellets below the salmon cages. One sample of three flathead caught off Coningham beach, 2km from the boundary of Tassal’s Sheppards lease, revealed antibiotics in the flesh of the fish above the reportable threshold. The monitoring reports were not made public until months after the disease outbreak.
