TIM JEANES: Tasmanian West Coast Mayor, Darryl Gerrity, says the scene was one of carnage, after recreational fishermen moved in for the kill.

DARRYL GERRITY: It was awash with salmon that had been filleted, and it was quite disgusting and a was substantial mess. There's not very little tidal movement in that particular area, and they're now starting to rot and smell, and is not good for the tourism image, and the green and clean image that we want to project on the West Coast of Tasmania.

TIM JEANES: Mayor Gerrity says the danger extends beyond the immediate threat to public health.

DARRYL GERRITY: There's not a lot of work been done on it, but when you've got 15,000 salmon, afford at 10 kilo each, in Macquarie Harbour that has some pollution and has got a limited food chain for the native fish, there are grave concerns.

TIM JEANES: Not so according to the industry.

Pheroze Jungalwalla is the Executive Officer of the local Growers Association. He says research into escapee Atlantic salmon has found they don't generally attack other species.

PHEROZE JUNGALWALLA: About three per cent had fish remains, and one per cent had invertebrates in their gut. The rest of the gut content was made up of either pellets or things like leaves, twigs, stones, even cigarette butts and earplugs, really indicating that these fish are very well accustomed to eating pellets, that's what they're accustomed to, and they really aren't very successful at foraging in the wild.

TIM JEANES: In South Australia, there's a similar conflict of opinion over a different species, yellowtail kingfish.