SalmonChile's Carlos Odebret assured the company is doing all it can to recover the escaped fish. (Photo: Stock File)

Salmon escape from Mainstream farm in the thousands

CHILE
Wednesday, January 07, 2009, 02:10 (GMT + 9)

Preliminary estimates indicate that as many as 240,000 salmonids may have escaped from Mainstream company farming pens located in Seno de Reloncavi, a gulf situated in the Los Lagos region in the Chilean south.

Should preliminary numbers be confirmed as exact, the 31 December accident may be the most serious incident of its kind to take place in Chile.

The escape occurred "mainly as a result of wind and waves" which led to the destruction of three of the twelve raft-pens belonging to Salmones Mainstream, explained Francisco Fernandez, regional director of the National Fisheries Service (SERNAPESCA).

Company sources say they are still evaluating how many fish escaped, but will not be releasing the final count, El Llanquihue reports.

The damaged pens had been installed in the Chidguapi area, in the Calbuco Municipality.

Meanwhile, the Los Lagos region representative of the Chilean Salmon Industry Association AG (SalmonChile), Carlos Odebret, affirmed that: “They implemented all the [necessary] plans and sent out the recovery boats. However, the weather must improve as the ports remain closed.”

In December 2008, the Canadian subsidiary of Mainstream also suffered an Atlantic salmon escape from its British Columbia facilities.

At that time, some 2,500 fish escaped from the company farm at Mussel Rock as workers harvested salmon.

Kevin Bruce, coordinator of the organisation Friends of Clayoquot Sound, calls it “lamentable" that Atlantic salmon are once again swimming in the Pacific ocean.

"We hope the [company] implements a contingency plan to recover as many [fish] as possible," Bruce added.

The Mainstream Group is an aquaculture unit of the Norway's Cermaq with operations in Norway, Chile, Canada and Scotland. It produces more than 120,000 tonnes of salmon, a volume that ranks the company as the world’s second largest salmon producer, company executives claim.

By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

Print