Chlie’s Superintendency of the Environment (SMA) has brought Santiago, Chile-based salmon-farming firm Blumar up on four charges for breaches of environmental authorizations at the company’s Forsyth grow-out center, located in the Las Guaitecas National Reserve in the Aysén Region.
The charges are broken down into two categories, composed of one felony and three lesser infractions. The most serious charge was for exceeding the maximum authorized production at Forsyth during the production cycle between December 2016 and April 2018, as a result of which Blumar could be subject to revocation of its environmental qualification resolution (RCA), closure, and a fine of up to CLP 3.1 billion (USD 4.3 million, EUR 3.6 million).
The smaller infractions are related to locating salmon farming structures outside of the permitted aquaculture concession area; lacking the necessary elements to control a hydrocarbons spill, as outlined in the company’s contingency plan; and for failure to keep the SMA’s RCA monitoring system updated. For these offenses, Blumar may be subject to a written reprimand or an additional fine of up to some CLP 624 million (USD 857,000, EUR 728,000).
SMA Superintendent Cristóbal De La Maza highlighted the agency’s use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images to visualize and analyze the conditions of fish pens and related floating structures.
With the SAR, environmental officials can verify the positioning of centers and the respective functional structures regardless of meteorological conditions, amount of daylight, or types of surface, De La Maza said. The charges filed were based on evidence gathered from the SAR images and verified by the country’s fisheries and aquaculture service, Sernapesca.
Blumar will have 10 business days to present a compliance program and 15 business days to formulate disclaimers, according to De La Maza.
In June last year, heavy storms resulted in the deaths of 771,000 salmonids in the fattening stage – at an average weight of 3.8 kilos – in 18 cages at Blumar’s Caicura grow-out center. Two of the farm's cages were damaged, allowing salmon to escape, and the other 16 were sunk. A total of 771,405 salmon – equivalent to 88 percent of the fish in the center – perished with the cages sunken at a depth of 295 meters, leaving Blumar to deal with an estimated 2,900 metric tons (MT) of mortality on the seabed. Another approximately 100,000 salmon escaped.
