New footage shows horrors of Tasmanian factory-farmed salmon

Footage captured at Huon Aquaculture factory farms in Southern Tasmania has shown live fish pumped into a bin amongst piles of dead salmon and then sealed and left to suffocate. Footage has also captured more rotting chunks of salmon spilling out of the factory farm pens and into Tasmania's waterways.

Some estimates are that millions of salmon have died from a disease outbreak on the factory salmon farms in Tasmania's south.

The footage comes from an RSPCA-certified farm.

Bob Brown Foundation is calling on the RSPCA to drop their certification of Tasmanian farmed salmon immediately.

"It is now clear that the RSPCA has no choice but to drop their certification of this toxic and cruel industry. The footage of live fish being sealed in a tub and left to suffocate would shock anyone, let alone an organisation dedicated to the prevention of cruelty," said Alistair Allan, Antarctica and Marine Campaigner at Bob Brown Foundation.

"With such huge mortalities of salmon, documented cruelty, and a shameful history of killing and injuring native wildlife such as seals, the RSPCA will lose any last shred of credibility if they continue to certify Huon Aquaculture."

"This footage also calls into question what is happening with these diseased fish. With insider reports that companies are selling infected fish to the public, there doesn't seem to be any careful separation or sorting process between alive and dead, infected and not. Huon Aquaculture must immediately prove to the public they aren't selling sick fish for consumption."

"This is the reality of factory-farmed salmon. Our waterways and beaches are covered with rotting chunks of diseased salmon, the Maugean Skate has been pushed to the edge of extinction, reefs and seafloors are covered in sludge and slime and communities are completely fed up with the corporate takeover of their waters. Yet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thinks this industry should be exempt from federal environment law. Well, he better think again because Tasmanians know this toxic industry is destroying Tasmania," said Alistair Allan.

Watch the video footage here

Bob Brown Foundation media release, 6 March 2025