Punta Arenas, Chile-based salmon farmer Nova Austral may lose up to 20 percent of its total production capacity stemming from the sanctions levied against it by the Superintendency of the Environment (SMA), according to a report by consultancy Indexsalmon.
After determining the farmer had overproduced at three of its centers - Cockburn 14, Cockburn 23 and Aracena 10 - SMA moved to revoke the environmental license at those centers, located in the Alberto de Agostini National Park.
Nova Austral has a maximum theoretical production that could exceed 65,000 metric tons (MT) among its 28 concessions, publication SalmonExpert reported, citing Indexsalmon. According to the company’s technical project submitted for the three centers in question, a theoretical production of 12,000 MT and a productive area of 19.68 hectares could be lost. This would mean 10.7 percent of its property in aquaculture concessions, 20 percent of its productive capacity and 14.6 percent of its concessioned area.
"Undoubtedly, losing three affected concessions will generate a significant impact on the company's annual production, if the revocation sanction is maintained, keeping in mind that Nova Austral is one of the pioneering companies in the last frontier of salmon in Chile – Magallanes – and it does not have a presence in other regions, where its main species of cultivation is Atlantic salmon," Indexsalmon said in its report.
Nova Austral has previously said it believes the environmental watchdog’s moves to be unfair and that it will appeal the decision.
“The sanctions imposed by the SMA are unjustified and disproportionate, taking into account the background information in the process, including the defense presented by the company. They are also inconsistent with the sanctions imposed in other comparable cases. Nova Austral will exercise all the resources that the law contemplates to reverse this measure,” the company said.
Nova Austral – owned by the equity funds Altor Fund III and Bain Capital – has been in regulatory trouble since June 2019, when Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) began investigating alleged underreporting of mortalities.
Photo courtesy of Nova Austral
