MEDIA RELEASE – 

Tasmanian wild fishers demand: 
“No more florfenicol” in State waters

Statement by Peter George, Independent MP for Franklin: 

Tasmania’s wild fishers have drawn a line in the sand with their statement: “Florfenicol (FFC) and other therapeutants must not be used in Tasmanian marine waters”. 

This is a clear victory for commonsense and a warning to government that the salmon industry cannot be allowed to destroy Tasmania’s renowned wild fisheries and undermine the state’s global reputation for the quality of its marine products. 

I applaud the determined stand made by rock lobster and abalone fishers as well as commercial divers for their clear, unequivocal opposition to any further use of antibiotics in diseased salmon pens, including florfenicol. 

The government must listen, the regulator must act and the APVMA must refuse industry demands to resume the use of antibiotics, including florfenicol, in Tasmanian waters. 

It’s time to rein in the salmon industry before next summer’s warming waters cause yet another catastrophic disease outbreak, more mass mortalities and even more dumping of florfenicol in our waterways. 

The untrialled use of florfenicol last summer severely disrupted wild fisheries as exports were shut down and fishing areas closed. 

Yet recently released data by the EPA, reveal florfenicol actually failed to stop the spreads of disease in salmon pens while mortalities are soaring higher than ever.  

Mortalities in the cooler June waters this year were double those of  12 months earlier – 1,350 tonnes in June 2026 compared with 634 tonnes in June 2025 – despite the introduction of florfenicol in November last year. 

The message to government could not be clearer: Tasmania’s wild marine life and the health of our waterways are more important to the state than disease-ridden salmon farms owned by foreign corporations.