The admission today from the toxic salmon industry that they used over fiver tonnes of a controversial antibiotic in Tasmania’s waterways amounts to an environmental crime.

This use of the antibiotic is shocking when compared to fish farm operations globally. While Tasmanian factory fish farms used over five tonnes in just a few short months, Norwegian factory fish farms used 500 kilograms of the antibiotic in a year.

Bob Brown Foundation is calling for all fish farms to be removed from Tasmanian waters.

“This is an appalling revelation that shows just how out of control the toxic fish farms in Tasmania have become,” said Alistair Allan, Antarctic and Marine Campaigner at Bob brown Foundation.

“It is shocking that in factory fish farms in Norway, they used 500 kilograms of this antibiotic in 12 months while in the regulatory wasteland that is Tasmania, Premier Rockliff and the Liberal government happily allowed fish farms to dump over five tonnes in just months. It is a scandal in every sense of the word.”

“The predicted El Nino for next summer is likely to cause even bigger mass mortalities than the salmon industry has previously seen. This toxic industry has shown that they cannot deal with warming waters, factory-farm conditions and disease. Now, they are dumping tonnes of antibiotics in a last-ditch effort and, even then, 1.5 million fish died. Fish farms must get out of Tasmania’s waters,” said Alistair Allan