Another farmed salmon mass breakout in Tasmanian waters stuns Huon Aquaculture

Another farmed salmon mass breakout in Tasmanian waters stuns Huon Aquaculture

By Fiona Breen

Source: abc

12/3/2020

Salmon farmer Huon Aquaculture is investigating another unexplained incident that allowed an entire pen of fish to escape into the ocean off southern Tasmania.

The company says 130,000 salmon escaped through a "significant tear" in a fortress pen in Storm Bay on Wednesday morning.

Early last week, the company lost more than 50,000 fish when a pen caught fire in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, melting part of the structure.

The D'Entrecasteaux Channel operation and the Storm Bay pen are on either side of Bruny Island, south of Hobart.

Huon Aquaculture founder Frances Bender told the ABC the company was investigating both incidents, but insisted the latest "wasn't a failure of equipment".

"We are very concerned," she told Tasmanian Country Hour on Thursday.

"We are doing intensive investigations but as yet we've failed to find any operational cause for either incident.

"At this stage we can't see a reason for this occurring."