{"id":224327,"date":"2026-07-27T13:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/?p=224327"},"modified":"2026-07-27T13:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:22:12","slug":"media-release-tasmanian-wild-fishers-demand-no-more-florfenicol-in-state-waters-20-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/media-release-tasmanian-wild-fishers-demand-no-more-florfenicol-in-state-waters-20-july-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"MEDIA RELEASE \u2013 Tasmanian wild fishers demand: \u201cNo more florfenicol\u201d in State waters, 20 July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MEDIA RELEASE<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/div>

Tasmanian wild<\/span> <\/span>fishers demand:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
<\/span>\u201cNo more florfenicol\u201d in\u00a0<\/span>State waters<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/h1><\/div><\/div>\n\n

Statement by Peter George, Independent MP for Franklin:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tasmania\u2019s wild fishers have drawn a line in the sand with their statement:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cFlorfenicol (FFC) and other therapeutants must not be used in Tasmanian marine waters\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a clear victory for commonsense and a warning to government that the salmon industry cannot be allowed to destroy Tasmania\u2019s renowned wild fisheries and undermine the state\u2019s\u00a0global\u00a0reputation for the quality of its marine products.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I applaud the determined stand made by rock lobster and abalone fishers as well as commercial divers for their\u00a0clear, unequivocal opposition\u00a0to any further use of antibiotics in diseased salmon pens, including florfenicol.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The government must listen, the regulator must\u00a0act\u00a0and the APVMA must\u00a0refuse industry demands to resume the\u00a0use of antibiotics, including florfenicol, in Tasmanian waters.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0time to rein in the\u00a0salmon industry\u00a0before\u00a0next summer\u2019s warming waters\u00a0cause\u00a0yet another\u00a0catastrophic disease outbreak,\u00a0more\u00a0mass\u00a0mortalities\u00a0and even more dumping of florfenicol in our waterways.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The untrialled use of florfenicol last summer\u00a0severely disrupted\u00a0wild fisheries as\u00a0exports were shut down and fishing areas closed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0recently released data by the EPA,\u00a0reveal\u00a0florfenicol\u00a0actually\u00a0failed\u00a0to stop the spreads of disease\u00a0in salmon pens\u00a0while\u00a0mortalities\u00a0are\u00a0soaring\u00a0higher than ever.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mortalities in\u00a0the\u00a0cooler\u00a0June\u00a0waters\u00a0this year were double those\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a012\u00a0months earlier\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span><\/b>1,350\u00a0tonnes\u00a0in June 2026 compared with\u00a0634 tonnes in June 2025<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 despite the introduction of florfenicol in November last year.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The message to\u00a0government\u00a0could not be\u00a0clearer:\u00a0Tasmania\u2019s wild marine life and the health of our waterways are more important to the state than disease-ridden salmon farms owned by foreign corporations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":224259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224330,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224327\/revisions\/224330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petergeorgeforfranklin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}