Thousands of 1-kilo sized fish have died. It is the third mass mortality from different salmon farmers reported in only a few weeks.
Chilean authorities Sernapesca writes that Mowi Chile has informed it about estimated mortality of 20,000 1-kg Atlantic salmon at a site in northern Chiloé, in the Lagos region of southern Chile.
Authorities claimed that this was an isolated event and no other salmon farms with abnormal mortality have been detected in the area.
However, it is the third large mortality event in only a few weeks in Chile. In Early April, Invermar lost nearly a million fish to algae bloom outbreak of Cochlodinium sp.
Furthermore, early this week, Granja Marina Tornagaleones (Marine Farm) lost 10,000 harvest size salmon from red tide further south in Aysén Region, Chilean Patagonia.
In spring 2016, an algal bloom wiped out millions of fish at the world’s second-largest salmon producing nation. However, it has not been indicated that this is an issue in Chile right now.
SalmonBusiness has contacted Mowi Chile and Sernapesca for more information about the deaths and if it is connected with red tide.
