EPA analysis contradicted by NOFF and Salmon Tasmania

At Verona Sands, NOFF campaigner Jess Coughlan saw for herself the innumerable balls of smelly greasy material "scattered all along the tideline, running the entire length of the beach". She broke some of the larger pieces open. They were pink inside and contained scales. The balls were not fish food, they were the putrid remains of fish. An industry source told her they were called "popcorn" in the industry. They formed when fish died, decomposed on the bottom of the pens, and flesh and fatty oil then floated up to the surface.

Evidence from Verona Sands, Bruny Island and the Tasman Peninsula pointed to a major outbreak of disease, but for several days, the state Environment Protection Authority and the companies provided no specific details on the number of fish deaths or how widespread the outbreak was.

Eventually, after public pressure, the EPA put out a vague and innocuous statement, saying it had begun an investigation, and that laboratory analysis showed the material was "likely derived from the elevated fish mortalities that have been affecting multiple pens at Tasmanian fish farms over recent weeks". They later admitted that unusually warm waters had created a proliferation of pest species to which salmon are vulnerable, and that this, and bacterial disease, had contributed to the fish deaths. They also admitted the companies were dumping unusually large numbers of dead fish in landfills.

Unusually, Salmon Tasmania, the salmon industry peak body, was more willing than the EPA to admit the size of the outbreak. Chief executive Luke Martin, said the industry was "dealing with unprecedented mortalities in the South-East".

• Read more by leading political analyst Mike Seccombe in an extensive, well-researched article in The Saturday Paper, 1 March 2025. He also discusses the probable impact on the forthcoming Federal elections, and questions whether the government's pledge to protect the industry and the endangered Maugean skate is pork-barrelling.