Tasmanian regulator probes dolphin deaths at Huon Aquaculture sites.
Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) is investigating multiple dolphin deaths at Huon Aquaculture’s southern sites after several animals were found entangled in “fortress” predator nets.
Documents released under right-to-information show five dolphins died between December 2024 and June 2025 at Huon’s leases at Hideaway Bay and Trumpeter Bay. Eight deaths have been reported at the company’s operations in the past two years.
NRE raised concerns about late incident reporting and the company’s repeated freezing of dolphin carcasses without prior approval, which prevented necropsies and limited the ability to determine causes of death.
Huon said internal inspections found no structural or maintenance faults with the pens and that the incidents may be linked to changes in dolphin behaviour. NRE said it is continuing discussions with Huon to improve wildlife management and reduce future entanglements.
