Government requests closure of Marine Harvest Chile farm after huge storm salmon escape

The complaint signed by the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) asks for the temporary closure of the site.

Last week Punta Redonda site was hit by a major storm leading to extensive damage causing to one of the biggest escapes – 680,000 fish – ever in the industry.

Only 5.7% of the 680,000 escaped salmon have been recovered by fisherman.

The Superintendency of Environment (SMA) requested the Third Environmental Court authorisation to order the closure of the Punta Redonda Center Marine Harvest farm yesterday according to the BiobioChile news site.

The request is seeking a 30 closure of operations.

The complaint filed by Sernapesca against Marine Harvest Chile yesterday was for possible breaches in the maintenance and security at its farm.

It said that the leak could have been caused by non-compliance with the maintenance of the safety conditions of the cultivation units, breaking the Environmental Regulation for Aquaculture’s rules (RAMA) and the basic conditions for its operation.

That the court has not yet ruled on this request.

According to Sernapesca Aquaculture Deputy Director, Ruth Alarcón, the company must recover at least 10 per cent of the biomass so that environmental damage is not caused.

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