Book review: Acclaimed Australian author takes on local 'salmon barons'

Richard Flanagan lifts lid on dark side of Tasmania's lucrative fish farming industry

In his latest book, "Toxic," author Richard Flanagan writes about the "slow, rolling destruction" he says Tasmania's salmon industry is wreaking on the environment. (Nikkei montage/source photos by Penguin Books and Getty Images)

DAVID HOPKINS, Contributing writer

July 11, 2021 08:00 JST

MELBOURNE -- Large, healthy salmon leaping out of crystal-clear water is the kind of imagery the major fish farming companies in Tasmania, an island state of Australia, have worked hard to convey. But the glossy business brochures claiming the highest standards of quality, safety and sustainability do not hold up to scrutiny, according to renowned Australian author Richard Flanagan, whose latest book catalogs a trail of environmental destruction and problematic practices in the industry.

Published in April, "Toxic: The Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry," is already in its fourth printing in Australia, where salmon is a popular staple. Flanagan is best known for his fiction, including "The Narrow Road to the Deep North," which drew on his father's experience as a Japanese prisoner of war and won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2014.