Australia’s Veterinary Medicines Regulatory Authority has suspended the use of florfenicol in Tasmanian salmon, citing the “unacceptable risk” the antibiotic poses to other species.
The Bob Brown Foundation said the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines (APVMA) decision was “an indictment on industrial aquaculture companies and a complete disregard for the marine environment”.
The APVMA granted emergency authorization in November 2025 to allow industry to use florfenicol to treat outbreaks of the bacterial disease pishiriketsiosis. Salmon die-offs have occurred at farms in southern Tasmania.
More than a million salmon died on Tasmanian farms in February 2025, with authorities and the industry describing the incident as an “unprecedented” mass mortality event caused by a disease outbreak. Pishirichettsia salmonis Bacteria.
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In February, authorities notified the industry that they planned to suspend permits unless the industry could provide evidence to justify continued use after traces of the drug were found in wild fish species 10 kilometers from marine pens.
“The information received by APVMA on March 2, 2026 was reviewed and it was concluded that no new data or evidence of action existed that would address APVMA’s concerns,” the agency said in a statement Thursday.
“The product owner has been notified that the permit has been suspended and that the product cannot be used under the terms of the permit.”
Alistair Allan, an Antarctic and marine activist at the Bob Brown Foundation, said it was the right decision.
“The use of antibiotics was thought to be an unacceptable risk to other marine life, but the reality is that industrial farms are an unacceptable risk to marine life no matter what they do,” he said.
He said the “reckless use” of antibiotics “has been of great concern to the community from day one.”
Guardian Australia has contacted Salmon Tasmania for comment.
