Florfenicol already in use, government reporting inadequate

On the day of the Government approval for the use of florfenicol, Tassal started using it at two salmon farm leases at Dover in Tasmania's far south. Shortly after, the director of public health, Mark Veitch, issued a statement recommending people consider not consuming fish caught within three kilometres of pens being treated by florfenicol (ABC report)(Tasmanian Times report).

NOFF investigations found that there is information buried deeply at the bottom of a long page on the Tasmanian EPA website, where they report that:

• The EPA has received Veterinary Authority documents from Tassal notifying that Tassal will undertake treatment with Florfenicol at their Meads Creek (MFL 77) and Stringers Cove (MFL 209) leases commencing on 7 November 2025 for a period of 10 days
• The EPA has received Veterinary Authority documents from Huon Aquaculture that Huon Aquaculture will undertake treatment with Florfenicol at their Zuidpool North lease (MF141) commencing on 12 November 2025 for a period of 10 days.​

There is also minimal information on the Government ListMap, where it shows the area of impacted leases, and if you click on a specific lease it only tells you the date florfenicol was administered.

The Wild Fisheries Management Branch of NRE, the parent department of the EPA, issued its Recreational Fishing email newsletter advising of the start of treatment. This issue is undated but received by NOFF at 5.17pm on 12 November 2025.

The Tasmanian Department of Health published a statement on its website on 7 November, but this is a general warning, not specific to any company or lease, and refers to the EPA and ListMap for more information.

There may have been other notifications we have missed, symptomatic in itself of poor communications, but what we have found so far is a patchwork of statements in far from prominent places, all relying on the public searching for them. The only proactive notice from the Government appears to have been five days late in one case, and several hours late in the other, and only sent to recreational fishing subscribers to an email newsletter.

Not good enough!