Marine Harvest have caught 5.54% the total fish escaped, say authorities.
The National Director of Sernapesca, Alicia Gallardo, made it clear to the salmon farmer that the recapture time was up and the numbers were in, according its own site.
There had been a tug of war between the Chile’s national fishing authority and Marine Harvest vis-a-vis recapture numbers.
However it now appears that Sernapesca have confirmed their own numbers ie: 38,286 fish, around 5.5% of the 680,000 that escaped. This means that there are grounds to “presume environmental damage, according to the provisions of the General Law of Fisheries and Aquaculture” which requires at least 10% recapture, paving the way for a £6.2 million fine.
Marine Harvest had hoped that salmon caught by local fisherman and sold at local markets would be counted as recaptured. However they were not registered and counted for in the authorities official number.
“As a result of this work, we can now prove the recapture of these 38 thousand salmon,” said Gallardo, who explained that Sernapesca analysed a contingency report submitted by Marine Harvest on September 14, which also included an estimate of additional catches, which wasn’t considered in the final calculation.
Gallardo said that the information will be handed over to the State Defence Council, which will evaluate whether or not it should submit the company for environmental damage, in accordance with Chile’s Fisheries law.
