Salmon farms used an antibiotic, so Tasmania’s lobster fishers must stay out of the Channel until February
Commercial fishers will be banned from taking rock lobster in part of Tasmania's lower D'Entrecasteaux Channel from Sunday until 14 February, after Tassal treated fish at two nearby salmon farms with the antibiotic oxytetracycline. The state says the seafood is safe; the closure is about keeping export markets that will not accept any antibiotic trace.
Three things to know
- Commercial rock lobster fishing and pot setting are banned in parts of the Southern Channel "Therapeutic Management Area" from 15 November 2026 to 14 February 2027, and divers cannot take sea urchins or periwinkles in the Northern Channel area.
- The state's fisheries department says the closure is a precaution for trade and is not about food safety; swimming and recreational fishing are still considered safe.
- More closures may follow: the salmon industry has applied again to use florfenicol, an antibiotic whose last emergency permit was revoked in March after it turned up in wild seafood more than 10 kilometres from the pens.
Tasmania’s lobster fishers are paying for a problem in somebody else’s pens.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment has issued two notices closing parts of the commercial rock lobster and marine invertebrate fisheries in the lower D’Entrecasteaux Channel, south of Hobart, from Sunday 15 November to 14 February next year. The notices were made public on Thursday.
Commercial fishers cannot take rock lobster or set lobster pots in parts of the Southern Channel “Therapeutic Management Area”. In the Northern Channel area, commercial divers cannot take short-spined sea urchins, long-spined sea urchins or periwinkles.
The trigger is oxytetracycline, an antibiotic Tassal has been injecting into salmon at its farms at Great Taylors Bay and Meads Creek to treat bacterial disease.
Is the lobster unsafe to eat?
No, according to the department. A spokesperson described it as a precautionary closure that was not related to any food safety concern. Tassal said Public Health had confirmed swimming and recreational fishing remained “completely safe”, and the state’s health advice when the treatment began said the antibiotic posed no risk to the public.
The reason is trade. Under a Wild Fisheries Market Access Plan the department released in October, wild fisheries near antibiotic-treated pens are closed so that no trace turns up in seafood bound for countries with zero tolerance for antibiotic residues. One detection in an export shipment can shut a market far bigger than one channel.
Who loses, and who pays?
Tassal says the closed water accounts for about 1.6 per cent of Tasmania’s historical annual rock lobster catch, and it called the closure localised and temporary. It said it recognised the consequences for affected fishers and was working with the wild fisheries sector on “appropriate support”, but no compensation figure has been announced, and the number of fishers affected has not been made public.
The closure runs through Christmas and the whole of summer.
Franklin independent MP Peter George said he was shocked, and that salmon industry interests were trampling those of Tasmania’s wild fishers. The Bob Brown Foundation said the closure was “only the beginning” and called on Premier Jeremy Rockliff to remove fish farms from Tasmanian waters.
Has this happened before?
Yes, and that is the bigger story. Salmon companies were given an emergency permit to use a different antibiotic, florfenicol, late last year. It was revoked in March 2026 after florfenicol was found in wild seafood, including abalone and rock lobster, more than 10 kilometres from treated pens.
Salmon Tasmania, which represents the three main salmon companies, has now applied for another emergency permit to treat bacterial disease with florfenicol. The national pesticides and veterinary medicines regulator, the APVMA, has been taking public submissions, and a decision is expected this month. If it is approved, more of the state’s wild fisheries could face the same kind of closure.
Why does it matter beyond Tasmania?
Farmed salmon and wild rock lobster are both Tasmanian export industries, and they share the same water. The closure shows the trade-off the state now manages: every round of antibiotics in the pens can mean a closed sign on the water next door.
The department says monitoring is under way, and Tassal says that work is aimed at reopening the area as soon as possible.
How we got here
The key moments that brought this story into focus. Open any moment for detail.
Late 2025Florfenicol permit
Salmon companies get an emergency permit to treat disease with the antibiotic florfenicol.
March 2026Permit revoked
The permit is revoked after florfenicol is found in wild seafood more than 10km from pens.
October 2026Market plan
The fisheries department releases its Wild Fisheries Market Access Plan.
October 2026Oxytetracycline used
Tassal begins treating salmon with oxytetracycline at Great Taylors Bay and Meads Creek.
12 November 2026Closure announced
Two notices close commercial lobster and invertebrate fishing in parts of the Channel.
What happens next
The closure starts on Sunday 15 November and is set to end on 14 February 2027, sooner if monitoring allows. The APVMA's decision on Salmon Tasmania's florfenicol application is expected this month, and could bring further closures. No compensation arrangement has yet been announced.
Sources
- VNN
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