Diagnostic tests for infectious salmon anemia (ISA) have come back positive at Chilean salmon farmer Cultivos Yadran’s Melchor 716 cultivation center, in the Norte area of the Aysén region, Chile’s national fisheries and aquaculture service, Sernapesca, reported on its website.
Yadran’s center was immediately notified that it was suspected for ISA, and Sernapesca said it plans to run further tests to confirm the case. In the meantime, the fisheries and aquaculture service has implemented all the preventive surveillance and control measures as called for in the country’s official response protocol, and it will also monitor the area's farming centers and strengthen surveillance in the area.
In November 2020, Sernapesca declared an area around a Yadran farm as an ISA-infected zone after the government agency received positive samples of the sequencing, corresponding to ISA HRP19a virus.
According to the official resolution, Yadran’s Melchor 719 cultivation center – also located in the Norte area – was to remain classified as an infected zone for a period of three months from the time the farm was completely disinfected and all the fish harvested. After that period, the Melchor center, which had some 108,000 fish, was to be considered as a surveillance zone for at least two years.
At the time, Yadran’s other concessions in the area were also declared as a surveillance zone and Sernapesca ordered all farming centers in the area to carry out sampling within seven days.
Puerto Montt, Chile-based Yadran recorded record harvests in 2019 of 28,053 metric tons (MT) of salmon, of which 25,813 MT were exported. It aims to produce 30,000 MT this year.
Photo courtesy of Sernapesca
