Following the detection of ISA virus, the Chilean unit of Oslo, Norway-based Cermaq will harvest all of the salmon found in its Ensenada RyS seawater site, located in southern Chile’s Magallanes Region (Region XII).
The virus was found during a routine sampling at one of its pens in November and all of the salmon in that pen was harvested. In December, new tests were carried out that came up as showing another three pens affected by ISA. The company will now harvest the entire site, which contains some 561,000 fish, Cermaq Chile said in a statement.
“This is an unfortunate situation, but we are committed to the right way of doing things to avoid more risks,” Cermaq Chile Managing Director Steven Rafferty said. The executive took the Chilean subsidiary’s reins in March last year.
Rafferty said it is “essential” to work in conjunction with the authorities, and that Cermaq is following all protocols specified by Chilean aquaculture authority Sernapesca “to keep on building a sustainable industry and minimize any risk this incident might pose for the Skyring area.”
After the November detection of the presence of ISA virus, Sernapesca carried out different actions in nearby salmon farming centers, such as verification of the biosecurity implemented in harvesting procedures and the conditions of the processing plants.
Additionally, as established under the ISA Specific Health Surveillance and Control Program and its preventive approach, the sector authority implemented a health campaign in Concessions Groups 49A and 50A, in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
On the international level, Cermaq recently announced a partnership with French smoked salmon brand Labeyrie to employ blockchain technology in order to enhance the traceability of the two companies’ products. It is also preparing launch the iFarm project, using image recognition to identify individual salmon and track each fish’s growth and medical treatment.
Photo courtesy of Cermaq
