A salmon producer says it will “monitor conditions” at a southern Tasmanian beach after allegations pieces of salmon had washed ashore.
Huon Aquaculture says it “responded immediately” to community “queries” about items found on the Verona Sands foreshore on Sunday, February 16.
The EPA says it has received samples of the “unknown biological material”, to be tested. (Supplied: Bob Brown Foundation)
In a social media post on Monday afternoon, Huon thanked “dear Verona Sands residents” for “getting in touch with our team over the weekend”.
“We can confirm that it was not fish feed that washed up on the shoreline, but we are taking the matter extremely seriously and have sent samples for testing.”
The EPA says it has sent some of the material away for testing. (Supplied: Bob Brown Foundation)
On Monday, the Bob Brown Foundation (BBF) said it “suspects the chunks to be remnants of dead fish that have been allowed to contaminate the waters and now the Verona Sands beach”.
“Now families and their children are walking along a beach strewn with rotting salmon fat. People have been reporting their dogs eating it, as well as local wildlife,”
it said.
Huon’s Hannah Gray said samples were collected from the beach and sent for testing. However, she said Huon “can confirm it was not fish feed”, but “chunks of oily sand on the beach”.
“It is believed to likely be fish oil,” she said, adding that fish oil was “not harmful to people or pets”.
Huon says more than 20 staff cleared the shore. (Supplied: Huon)
Huon, one of the three major salmon producers in Tasmania, said the local industry had acknowledged “elevated mortality rates over summer”, with the company “proactively notifying the community it was administering antibiotic medicine” to some pens at its Zuidpool lease in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.
Ms Gray said Huon employees “take our responsibility to care for this place and our fish extremely seriously”.
The company said it had been “regularly communicating” with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and had distributed letters to Verona Sands residents.
Huon said a “crew of more than 20 team members cleared the shore yesterday afternoon and another crew returned at first light this morning to monitor conditions”.
“We can confirm that no further materials have washed ashore overnight.”
Huon has given samples of the material to the EPA for testing. (Supplied: Huon)
The EPA confirmed it had received samples of the “unknown biological material” for testing.
It said Huon had “acted in accordance with legal requirements under the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 and is in the process of removing the material to dispose of at an EPA-approved facility”.
“Once again, the huge foreign-owned salmon factory farms are polluting the waterways and beaches, and refuse to tell the community what has happened,” Alistair Allan, the BBF’s Antarctic and marine campaigner
said.
Huon was acquired by Brazil’s JBS Foods in 2021. Tassal was bought by Canadian seafood giant Cooke in 2022 and Petuna was taken over by New Zealand’s Sealord in 2020.
The BBF said the issue “points to the problems with the polluting salmon industry” that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton “back without question”.
Last week, Mr Albanese wrote to the Tasmania salmon industry to confirm federal environmental laws would be introduced to ensure the continuation of salmon farming operations off Tasmania’s west coast in a waterway that is home to the critically endangered Maugean skate.
Mr Dutton has said he will “not be stopping salmon farming” at Macquarie Harbour.
