Chile’s national fishing authority, Sernapesca, has ordered salmon farmer Ventisqueros to activate a contingency plan after it reported damages to cages due to a tidal surge and strong currents.
According to Sernapesca, the authorities received notification from the company on December 27, that there had been damages to the cages at the site Tubildad in the Los Lagos Region. Sernapesca asked the company to identify the affected cages, and perform a count of the fish, in ordner to determine the magnitude of the salmon escape.
Sernapesca visited the site, and confirmed salmon escape. However, the company itself, said no fish escaped, writes La Tercera. This was confirmed after the company carried out inspections with underwater robots in the cages, which contained about 190,000 fish.
Branny Montecinos, a regional director of Sernapesca, said that Sernapesca officials continues to monitor the harvesting process, and once completed, it will be possible to determine with certainty the amount of salmon that escaped, writes Cooperative Regiones.
The Ministry of the Environment is waiting for Sernapesca’s reports to initiate actions for the escape, writes BioBioChile.
