MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile expands list of infectious salmon anemia outbreaks

Once booming Salmon industry faces crucial chalenge

Chile's National Fishing Service (SERNAPESCA) has expanded its official list of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) outbreak sites yet again, adding four Region X fish farms in its latest fortnightly report. ISA is a highly contagious virus that can be lethal to fish but does not affect humans.

Two of the new outbreak sites belong to industry leader Marine Harvest, a Norwegian company. The other two farms belong to Fjordo Blanco and Invertec. SERNAPESCA's updated list contains 19 fish farms, 17 in Region X and two in Region XI, an area also known as Aysén. The government fisheries body moved one farm listed earlier in the month as an outbreak site to its recently created "temporarily decommissioned list." The new category describes previously infected farms that have eliminated all fish, thoroughly disinfected all facilities and have agreed to remain inoperative for three months. The decommissioned list now features 21 farms, 20 in Region X and one in Region XI. SERNAPESCA, furthermore, lists 19 sites as "suspicious" and maintains an additional 49 farms under quarantine. SERNAPESCA recently confirmed the presence of ISA in far-southern Magallanes, Region XII as well. So far, however, the government office has chosen not to include the site on any of its official lists. That decision has angered Region XII activist groups such as the recently formed Patagonia without Salmon Farms Social Coordinating Committee (CSPSS), which fears SERNAPESCA is intentionally downplaying the area's ISA problem. Salmon is huge business in Chile, where exports last year brought in more than 2.2 billion US dollars. It has also – at least until 2007 – been an extremely fast-growing industry. Between 2003 and 2006, exports increased by an average of 20% annually. During the span, Chile solidified its place as the world's number two farmed salmon and trout producer, just behind Norway. More recently, however, the industry has suffered a significant slowdown, due in no small part to problems with the ISA virus. In 2007, the industry grew by just 2% in terms of export sales. The dip has led to major job cuts in Regions X and XI, where more than 2,000 people have been laid off in recent months as companies like Marine Harvest continue to downsize their Chile operations. The Santiago Times