Mortality figures at several Chilean salmon farms continue to climb due to a harmful algal bloom event that has recently affected operations in southern Chile’s Aysén region.
The bloom began 31 December 2023 and was originally reported 2 January 2024, when Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) announced that the event had caused mortality impacting 2,854 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic and coho salmon. In its latest update from 9 January, that figure had risen to 4,994 MT.
“Of the five centers affected by the bloom event, one is still carrying out harvesting maneuvers to finish its production cycle, and the remaining four are without fish, ending the early harvest,” Jorge Padilla, acting regional director of Sernapesca Aysén, said. “This is a measure that aims to prevent new mass mortality in the event that concentrations of [microalgae genus] Pseudochattonella remain above harmful levels or increase. For our part, we will maintain surveillance in the surrounding farming centers and throughout the region.”
The five salmon farms – all of which are located northeast of Isla Victoria in Chile’s Aysén region – activated contingency plans due to the presence of the microalgae. Affected farms with mass mortality include AquaChile’s Melchor 7 Center and Blumar’s Victoria and Chivato 1 centers, while farms belonging to MultiX and Mowi underwent monitoring.
The total biomass in the affected concession area amounts to 7,992 MT, according to Padilla.
“We have been constantly monitoring the extraction from the pens,” he said. “We will continue with the inspections until the end of this contingency, and we will also maintain surveillance in the centers with the harmful algal bloom plan activated.”
In a statement sent on the night of 8 January to Chile’s financial markets regulator (CMF), Blumar CEO Gerardo Balbontín confirmed that as of 6 January, all of the mortality at the two centers had been extracted with the help of three fishing vessels and three barges, with the biomass being sent for processing at two fishmeal plants. The remaining live fish from both centers are being harvested through the use of two wellboats.
Mortality is estimated at some 3,100 MT between the two centers, hitting Blumar with an approximate direct financial loss of USD 8.5 million (EUR 7.8 million).
In a different statement sent previously to the CMF, Balbontín said that the total number of fish at the Victoria Center reached about 850,000 Atlantic salmon, with an average weight of 4.16 kilograms and an estimated accounting value at the time of the incident of about USD 18.5 million (EUR 16.9 million).
AquaChile is a privately held company and is owned by Chilean protein holding company Agrosuper. As such, it does not have to report to the CMF.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock/smspsy
