Deadly virus in pilchards washing up on Hobart beaches - questions about salmon farms

The pilchards washed up on Hobart beaches yesterday were found to be carrying the deadly disease POMV (Pilchard orthomyxovirus). The disease was responsible for killing 1.35 million caged Atlantic salmon in Macquarie Harbour in 2018. That outbreak prompted immediate action by the EPA to alter regulations in the region, including reducing biomass in Salmon farms.

According to the FRDC, (Fisheries Research and Development Corporation) outbreaks have also occurred in salmon farms on the Tamar River, as well as the South Eastern Biosecurity Zone - including mass deaths in 2012 in the Huon River.

Lack of transparency and poor regulation in mandatory reporting means the public does not know to what extent the virus has affected salmon farms in Tasmania's South East in recent years.

In 2018, the FRDC reported a $5million investment in vaccine research for the disease. Neighbours of Fish Farming (NOFF) asks how much tax payers' money has been spent on vaccine research for POMV to date in 2025.

"This is one more reason that salmon farming should be immediately and significantly reduced from our inshore waterways, with a plan to remove the industry completely to land-based operations" says Jess Coughlan, NOFF Campaigner.

"We know after the events of last summer, with large numbers of salps, Noctiluca blooms, jellyfish and the Piscirikkettsia virus, that our waterways are changing with rising temperatures and high nutrient input. The environment as a result, is now becoming increasingly hostile towards industrially-farmed Atlantic salmon."

"POMV is a major risk to farmed salmon and transmission can freely occur between wild fish and the industrial pens. NOFF is demanding full disclosure of all instances of diagnosed POMV in the State's South Eastern Biosecurity Zone since 2012. If diseases are being incubated in salmon farms operating in public waterways, then Tasmanians have a right to know."

"We have an eco-system that is suffering and out of balance with catastrophic numbers of dead salmon and wild fish this summer" says Lisa Litjens, NOFF President.

• Comments attributable to Jess Coughlan, NOFF campaigner, noff7112@gmail.com