Environment groups have written to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) urging them to suspend the use of the controversial antibiotic, Florfenicol, in factory fish farms in Tasmania.

The APVMA recently proposed to suspend the current permitted use of Florfenicol after it was revealed that the antibiotic had contaminated wild fish as far as 10km from the nearest factory fish farm.

It has also been revealed through RTI documents that both the Tasmanian Health and Environment departments questioned the evidence cited by the salmon industry in the initial approval to use Florfenicol.

Bob Brown Foundation is calling for the complete removal of fish farms from Tasmania’s waters.

“The salmon corporations in Tasmania are out of control and need to be stopped,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner Bob Brown Foundation.

“The industrial fish farm companies have been dumping tons of antibiotics in the marine environment without a second thought to the environmental damage it will do or the impact it has on Tasmanians. Recreational water users and even other commercial fisheries have been willingly sacrificed by the Tasmanian government on the altar of big salmon.”

“With antibiotics now been found in wild fish a staggering 10km from the nearest factory fish farm, the use of Florfenicol must be ended for the sake of our marine environment,” said Alistair Allan.