1.35 Million farmed Salmon died during 6 months, due to disease, in Macquarie Harbour, Australia

After it is revealed more than a million farmed fish died within six months in Macquarie Harbour, one salmon company effectively says “we told you so”, another says the dead fish were “replaced quickly” and the third says it has no obligation to detail its losses to the public.

Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) confirmed 1.35 million salmon died in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast since last October.

An area management agreement report provided by Huon Aquaculture, Petuna and Tassal found the deaths were mainly due to an outbreak of pilchard orthomyxovirus (POMV), transferred from wild populations.

That report had not been made available to the public.

EPA director Wes Ford told ABC Hobart the 2017 “mixing of young fish with old fish” could exacerbate the likelihood of disease in the population.

“POMV can be exacerbated by stress caused by heat, low oxygen, and I think this summer we’ve seen some elevated temperatures and clearly some concerns about oxygen.”

He confirmed the EPA would be reducing Macquarie Harbour’s biomass limit by 21 per cent over the next two years, from 12,000 tonnes to 9,500 tonnes.

Courtesy of abc.net.au

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