An estimated 149,000 salmon that were being transported to a site of Nova Austral located in the Magallanes Region of Chile, to be stocked, presumably died because of a toxic microalga.The company's general manager, Nicos Nicolaides, said that the death of 105,000 fish of 210 grams that were transported by the ship Don Pedro and another 44,000 fish of 420 grams carried by the ship Maria Ines, occurred near Gulf Penas.
Chile’s government has temporarily banned the consumption of sardines in the south of the country after hundreds of thousands of dead fish turned up floating along the shores of Queule River.
Some 25 million of fish -- equivalent to 39,942 tons of dead biomass -- was the final balance of the emergency caused by algae bloom in 45 farms in the salmon farms of the southern region of Chile, Los Lagos, reported SERNAPESCA, director José Miguel Burgos. A several month’s bloom of toxic algae causes ravage in south Chile salmon and trout farms.
The southern hake (Merluccius australis) ban awareness campaign has been officially launched in the southern Chilean city of Puerto Montt, with the aim of halting the resource catches, sale and consumption in the south of the country, extending from regions Los Lagos to Magallanes.
Chile's accumulated fisheries landings during the first five months of the year totaled 1.6 million tons, up 24% from the five months of 2013, when 1.3 million tons were landed.