Pyrotechnics at Sea: The Loud Reality of Sustainable Salmon

Corporate sustainability reports excel at artful distraction. Beautifully formatted glossies promise harmonious co-existence with nature, complete with video footage of marine life swimming serenely near industrial fish pens. Out in the cold waters off Tasmania, however, the operational soundtrack to salmon farming sounds less like quiet environmental stewardship and more like an artillery range.

Fresh government data from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reveals that marine salmon producers in Tasmania detonated nearly 1,800 underwater explosives to fend off fur seals during the first half of 2026 alone. This latest surge brings the total tally of underwater detonations deployed by the island state's aquaculture industry to over 150,000 since 2016. The numbers highlight a sharp rebound in a tactic that had briefly waned following public scrutiny in 2021, exposing how heavily operators still lean on pyrotechnics to protect their stocks.

Leading the charge is Huon Aquaculture, owned by Brazilian meat giant JBS. Now Tasmania's largest salmon producer, Huon accounted for 1,126 of the explosive charges fired in the first six months of 2026, mostly concentrated at its exposed Storm Bay leases off Bruny Island. Following incidents of mass fish deaths and rotting salmon washing ashore in early 2025, Huon launched a public relations campaign featuring footage of seals in open water. Yet when pressed on whether high explosive use at Storm Bay indicates cage vulnerability in rough seas, the company stayed silent. A spokesperson merely noted that the company took its wildlife duties seriously and was evaluating initiatives, including upgrades to existing infrastructure, adoption of new technologies to deter wildlife, and engagement with specialist consultants to assess and reduce interaction risks.

Similar contradictions mark the operations of Tassal, owned by Canada's Cooke Aquaculture. Tassal's 2025 sustainability report claimed an ambition to phase out seal deterrents, yet provided no target date. Operational reality tells a different story: the company deployed 551 explosives in the first half of 2026—more than double the count from the same period in either of the two preceding years. Tassal also remains the sole operator utilizing lead-shot bean bag rounds, firing 31 near the Tasman Peninsula. Meanwhile, Petuna, the state's smallest marine producer, registered 120 underwater detonations across Macquarie Harbour and the Tamar River.

The direct casualties of this aquatic stand-off continue to accumulate. Four fur seals perished at lease sites in the first half of 2026—victims of net entanglement, boat strike, and a failed sedation attempt—bringing total seal deaths at Tasmanian farms to 48 since 2021. Biannual state reporting, initiated in 2022 after a right-to-information request, demonstrates that corporate commitments to phase out deterrents disintegrate when confronted with the daily realities of production.

Written by Andreas Hofer andreas.hofer@alpineweekly.com