Salmones Camanchaca files police report over deliberate damage to cages which has resulted in 90,000 salmon escaping

“It is an attack”. Saboteurs cut holes off the nets of three cages, allege the Chilean salmon farmer.

Chilean aquaculture authority Sernapesca reports around 90,000 fish have escaped from a Salmones Camanchaca site in Lake Llanquihue, Frutillar, Los Lagos region, southern Chile.

Of the 92,863 coho salmon (which have of average weight of 500g) that escaped, 12,000 have been recaptured.

But Salmones Camanchaca do not say its down to a storm or a work accident. They have filed a police report alleging that the escape is down to some individuals deliberately cutting a hole in the nets of three cages early last Sunday.

Cooperativa added that the Sernapesca regional director Eduardo Aguilera said Salmones Camanchaca will make the police complaint and “because it is an attack”.

Aqua.cl had more details on the police report, where Salmones Camanchaca warned that the criminal action of third parties not “only caused property damage, but also involved harm to the environment”.

In May, floods hit sites hit 12 Salmones Camanchaca cages containing sites containing around 1.8 million salmon but it had minimal escapes.