Huon Aquaculture workers filmed putting live salmon into bins with dead fish after disease outbreak
By Adam Holmes
Topic:Animal Cruelty
12m ago12 minutes agoWed 5 Mar 2025 at 8:31pm
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In short:
Footage taken at a Tasmanian salmon farm shows live salmon being placed into a tub with dead salmon, with the fish still writhing as the tub is sealed.
Huon Aquaculture says it has launched a "full investigation" and says it is "extremely disappointed" in the actions shown.
What's next?
The video comes a day after Tasmania's premier said salmon companies were "on notice" and the fallout from mass fish deaths because of a disease outbreak was "completely unacceptable".
Huon Aquaculture has launched a "full investigation" after video taken at one of its Tasmania fish farms showed live salmon being siphoned out of a pen and sealed in tubs with piles of dead salmon.
The drone vision was captured on Wednesday morning by the Bob Brown Foundation at a salmon lease at Zuidpool Rock, near the mouth of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.
Huon had earlier announced it was using antibiotics at its Zuidpool lease due to a disease outbreak of rickettsia-like organisms.
The vision shows live salmon among the dead salmon being siphoned out of the pen by workers, with the tub then sealed as salmon continue to move.
The tub sits alongside 15 other tubs on two boats, the remainder sealed.
Aerial view of Atlantic salmon being pulled from a pen by hose and into a bin.
Live Atlantic salmon are put into a bin with dead fish at Huon's Zuidpool lease. (Supplied: Bob Brown Foundation)
Huon Aquaculture general manager marine operators David Morehead said a "full investigation" had been launched.
"We are extremely disappointed. These actions do not represent our standard operating procedures,"
he said.
"In ordinary circumstances, it is rare for a moribund fish to be pumped during mortality retrieval and, if needed, appropriate euthanasia processes would be followed."
The fish are usually stunned prior to death.
In a 2008 video, Huon described the method as: "Fish are painlessly euthanased, held in an ice bath, and then moved to the processing facility".
"Our salmon are harvested at night, we then process them quickly to ensure that they reach the market as fresh as possible.
"At the harvest table, HUON use RSPCA award-winning equipment to percussively stun the fish, the most humane way to slaughter salmon."
Huon is the only company out of the three operating in Tasmania — including Tassal and Petuna — to have RSPCA accreditation.
Industry in the public spotlight
The industry in south-east Tasmania has been grappling with the disease outbreak for over two weeks.
Huon earlier stated the infected fish were those that were unable to be vaccinated in time, after a vaccination was recently developed.
Chunks of fish have since been washing up on beaches, including at Verona Sands and southern Bruny Island.
A fillet of pink salmon seen on rocks.
Farmed Atlantic salmon was seen washing up on nearby Bruny Island. (Supplied: Bob Brown Foundation)
The chunks were verified as containing the bacteria Piscirickettsia salmonis, a member of a "proposed new genus", according to Tasmania's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Staff from Huon collecting items from a beach.
Staff from Huon Aquaculture pictured collecting salmon remnants items from a beach at Verona Sands. (Supplied: Huon)
Bob Brown Foundation campaigner Alistair Allan — who is also a Greens candidate for the federal seat of Lyons — said the footage of live fish being placed in tubs was concerning.
"These are animals that have been left to suffer and die," he said.
"The normal method is that they get stunned.
"Whether you like that or not, it's quick and relatively painless, as opposed to flopping around in a bin with infected fish around you until you run out of air."
Tasmania's Environment Protection Authority (EPA) this week said it did not know how many farmed salmon had died because of the mortality event, but companies would soon be required to report monthly weighted mortalities.
On Wednesday, Premier Jeremy Rockliff told state parliament Tasmanian salmon companies were "on notice" and the mass fish deaths were "completely unacceptable".
A fish pen
Huon has given samples of the material to the EPA for testing. (Supplied: Huon)
Posted12m ago12 minutes agoWed 5 Mar 2025 at 8:31pm
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