Punta Arenas, Chile-based salmon farmer Nova Austral is appealing a CLP 1.32 billion (USD 1.52 million, EUR 1.47 million) fine levied against it for five infractions reportedly committed in 2017 at its Aracena-19 salmon grow-out center.
The sanctioning procedure was initiated in September 2021 by the Superintendency of the Environment (SMA), following a claim filed by the regional director of Sernapesca, Chile’s fisheries and aquaculture service. According to information from the Third Environmental Court of Valdivia, to which Nova Austral is appealing the fine, four of the infractions are related to the inadequate management of mortalities and solid waste; breaches of certain measures associated with contingency prevention and management; and problems associated with the silage platform – all classified as minor. However, the fifth infraction, a failure to deliver daily mortality control logs for the second productive cycle, supervised by the SMA, is considered a serious offense.
Nova Austral is now seeking to have the fines reduced or eliminated. It claims the long duration between the incidents and the fines are invalid and that the fine amount is excessive considering the time elapsed. It also asserts that the SMA’s calculation of fines did not adhere to the legal methodological bases for the determination of environmental sanctions.
Nova Austral also claims the sanctioning resolution will attribute responsibilities that were not written in regulations or in environmental permits it was granted. The company said it had provided evidence to explain the inconsistencies between biomass removed for mortality and silage, and that the logs of the 2016-2018 cycle could not be sent because they had been accidentally destroyed.
In response, the SMA said that the two-year delay is justifiable, and the administrative procedure valid. The environmental watchdog insisted that typing errors or problems in the software used – the explanations provided by Nova Austral – cannot be used to justify inconsistencies in the recording of mortality subjected to silage, and that the failure to deliver the daily mortality control logs corresponds to extreme negligence and may be considered fraud.
During the hearing, the Environmental Court also received the allegations of two other claimants, the ATAP Indigenous Community and Greenpeace, which sought to have the fines increased and the grow-out center’s environmental authorization revoked.
Given the complexity of the case, Chile's Third Environmental Court chose to leave it under study, giving it more time to conduct analysis before it issues a sentence.
Nova Austral has been in regulatory trouble since June 2019, when Sernapesca began investigating alleged underreporting of mortalities first publicized by a Chilean newspaper. Sernapesca soon after filed three formal complaints against the company for adulteration of information.
In August 2019, SMA announced sanctioning proceedings against Nova Austral for environmental damage the company caused at four salmon-farming sites in the Magallanes region. SMA said it found evidence of overproduction, waste mishandling, inadequate mortality management, breaches in its silage platform allowing runoff, and the lack of mandatory equipment to comply with rules pertaining to algal blooms and fish escapes at sites Aracena-10, Aracena-19, Cockburn-14, and Cockburn-23, all located in the Alberto de Agostini National Park.
Additionally, in June 2020, Chile’s Council for the Defense of the State (CDE) filed a criminal lawsuit against former company executives, forcing an investigation into their responsibility for fraud.
