Site contained up to 875,144 salmon average weight of 3.8kg when hit by a storm last month. 2,900 tonnes of salmon are on the seabed.
Chile’s fisheries and aquaculture authority Sernapesca have released the final number of fish that escaped from a Salmones Blumar site in Los Lagos, southern Chile.
The total estimate is 103,720 escaped fish, corresponding to 12 per-cent of the total number of salmon in the farm (875,125). The information was based on an investigation and from analysis of images taken with two underwater robots (ROVs) and with high-tech Hammerhead sonars, carried out by the company, as requested by authorities.
The report indicates that the escape affected two of the 18 cages at the site. The remaining 16 cages, meanwhile, sank, carrying with them a total of 771,405 fish, equivalent to 88 per-cent of the fish.
Therefore, the mortality present on the seabed is estimated to be 2,900 tonnes, given that the average weight of salmon at the time of the contingency was 3.8 kilos.
Sernapesca National Director Alicia Gallardo reported that Sernapesca verified that the salmon farmer recaptured 28,276 salmon, which corresponds to 27.26 per-cent of the total fish escaped. This means that it caught more than 10 per-cent of the escaped specimens within 30 days, and are discounted from certain fines and repercussions.
Sernapesca said that regarding the mortality situation inside the cages that are now 295m beneath the waves, Blumar must now work with them on a salvage plan.
