09/08/2026
BREAKING NEWS: Animals Australia has lodged formal complaints calling for an immediate investigation into potential breaches of Tasmania’s Animal Welfare Act across the state’s salmon farming industry.
Salmon in Tasmania’s factory farms have been suffering and dying in large numbers for years — amidst disease outbreaks, warming sea temperatures and animal welfare incidents. At least four million Atlantic salmon died prematurely in fish farms in Tasmania in 2025 alone.
If millions of cattle died because of industry practices, there would be outrage and regulatory consequences. Our question is this: why is the salmon farming industry not being held to the same legislative standards?
Just because fish are suffering underwater doesn’t mean their suffering isn’t real.
And a licence to farm salmon is not a licence to cause unreasonable and unjustifiable suffering.
Tasmania’s Animal Welfare Act — a law that should protect them — already exists. It is now a question of whether Tasmania is prepared to enforce it.
