Eduardo Riquelme wades into incident with strong words for the salmon farmer: “It is unacceptable. Producers must effectively fulfill their obligations to the community, the environment and the law.”
The undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Eduardo Riquelme, has questioned the salmon farmer Ventisqueros on Subpesca’s site for the double fish escape that occurred a few days ago inside one of its facilities located in the Los Lagos region.
Riquelme stressed that the company breached obligations which expressly deal with such eventualities, such as the timely notification to authorities and the activation of a contingency plan to recapture fish.
“The information available indicates that Productos del Mar Ventisqueros SA did not give notice of the escape of the fish and that it did not activate the action plan associated with an event of this nature,” the deputy secretary warned.
“It is unacceptable. Producers must effectively fulfill their obligations to the community, the environment and the law,” he said.
“Salmon farming is a key productive sector and, therefore, its work must comply scrupulously with the rules that aim to safeguard sanitary aspects, as well as care for the environment. We will be inflexible when applying the corresponding sanctions when there is a breach of current regulations,” the undersecretary warned.
Riquelme anticipated that Sernapesca will maintain a permanent control over salmon farming operations, and that the “Subsecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) will continue adopting measures aimed at sustainable development of the sector.”
