Tasmania lobster sector rejects salmon compensation plan over antibiotic fishing closures

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Tasmania lobster vs salmon plan

Highlights

Salmon Tasmania seeks emergency permit to use florfenicol, with proposed six-week wild fishery closures in treated zones to avoid export bans.
Tasmania lobster fishers, led by the Rock Lobster Council, reject compensation and oppose closures, fearing long-term precedent over immediate financial support.
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority will decide on the permit this month after a previous emergency use was revoked when florfenicol was detected 10km away from salmon pens.

Permit plan and industry objections

As reported by ABC News, Salmon Tasmania is seeking an emergency permit to use florfenicol on farmed fish to prevent a bacterial disease outbreak after mass mortalities in 2025. The application includes a Wild Fisheries Market Access Plan that would close wild fisheries for up to six weeks in zones where salmon pens are treated, to reduce the risk of export bans from countries with zero tolerance for antibiotics in wild seafood.

The proposal also includes financial support for affected commercial fishers so they are no worse off during any closure. But lobster fisher Bryce Way says his sector opposes any loss of access and will not accept compensation, arguing that payments do not offset the longer-term damage of setting a precedent for future closures.

Tasmanian Rock Lobster Council president Danny Fox says that view is widely shared across the sector. He says fishers are not seeking to block the salmon industry, but he does not rule out protests as tensions rise between salmon producers and the wild catch industry.

Trade and operational impact for Tasmania seafood

The dispute comes after an earlier emergency permit issued late last year is revoked in March when traces of florfenicol are detected in wild seafood more than 10 kilometres away. The latest closure plan is designed to protect export access for rock lobster, abalone and other seafood if antibiotic treatment goes ahead.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority is expected to decide on the emergency use permit later this month. Salmon Tasmania chief executive John Whittington says, if approval is granted, florfenicol would only be used in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and Storm Bay when recommended by veterinarians.

Whittington says the industry is also pursuing ways to reduce antibiotic use, including selective breeding, vaccinations and improved feed. Last summer, 5.4 tonnes of florfenicol is used while about 9,000 tonnes of salmon still die, underscoring the scale of the disease challenge facing Tasmania's salmon sector.

Tasmania's health department says there are no reports of adverse human health effects from eating seafood with florfenicol residues. As a precaution, it says consumers can avoid seafood caught within 3km of a treated salmon pen.

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