Fur seals in Tasmania, Australia. Sharp Photography via Wikipedia

In the first half of this year, salmon farmers on the Australian island of Tasmania detonated nearly 1,800 underwater explosives to scare away fur seals intent on nabbing fish, government figures show.

Seals are capable of both jumping into pens and biting through pen nets, and they can easily injure or kill large numbers of salmon. Tassal, one of three companies operating farms in Tasmanian waters, reported that seals gained access to its salmon pens some 1,100 times over the past three years.

To ward off the animals, farmers use loud underwater explosives, known as seal crackers. The devices are intended to scare off seals, but they have been known to inflict grave injuries on marine mammals, including burns and broken bones.

Since 2016, Tasmanian farmers have used more than 150,000 crackers, according to data from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania.…