Bird Interactions
We are committed to reducing negative wildlife interactions through responsible management to ensure minimum harm to wildlife, our employees and our salmon. Despite our very best efforts, a very small portion of wildlife can die or suffer injury as a result of interacting with farms.
As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, all lethal wildlife interactions are reported on this dashboard within 45 days of the occurrence.
In late 2023, in an extraordinarily rare event, a large number of cormorants entered pens around Tassal’s Sheppard’s lease in the Channel. The birds were unfortunately attracting others to enter pens, and the more birds that access the pens, the more likely they are to become entangled and causing welfare concerns for the birds. In an attempt to stop more cormorants trying to get in and then becoming entangled, significant effort was put in to remove the cormorants from all pens at Sheppards. Bird netting over all pens has been examined and many have been replaced with decreased mesh size, reducing the likelihood of future incidents. This was largely successful, with the majority of the birds being released alive, however there were some mortalities, including a small amount that were humanely culled under a regulatory permit. The number of birds released, and the mortalities are reported in the dashboard.
