A million dollars worth of salmon has escaped from a fish farm on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania.

The Department of Primary Industries and Water believes a net torn open, allowing up to 25,000 salmon to escape from a Nubeena farm.

Spokesman Wes Ford says it is a boon for recreational fishers, but is causing big problems for commercial anglers, who are banned from selling salmon which escape from fish farms.

“As I understand it, some of the commercial fishermen who are fishing in the area are going about their daily business of trying to catch particularly fish like banded morwong,” he says.

“They are finding their nets are full of salmon, or have got large quantities of salmon, and that means they are getting less morwong in their nets, so they are catching less of the target species, so it’s affecting their income”.

Source: ABC Rural