Nine salmon farms in southern Chile’s Aysén region have activated contingency plans due to mass mortality, mainly due to low oxygen levels and harmful algal blooms, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) reported.
Cooke Aquaculture, Mowi, Aquachile, Yadran, Multiexport, and Granja Marina Tornagaleones are the companies with impacted farms. As of 5 April, a total of 1,600 metric tons of salmon mortalities had been declared. The breakdown of mortalities by company was not reported.
Sernapesca and the the Chilean Maritime Authority are conducting audits at each of the sites, carrying out surveillance of each of the centers through satellite, remote monitoring systems, and data comparison to keep appraised of environmental conditions and to monitor the execution of the companies’ contingency activities.
The occurrence is the latest in a series of algae bloom events that have affected Chile’s salmon industry, although until now the incidents had occurred in the Los Lagos region, north of Aysén.
On 4 April, Santiago, Chile-based Camanchaca said in a press release the number of dead salmon at its farms had doubled over what it had previously reported.
“The emergence of harmful algae in the Comau fjord, Los Lagos Region, which affects the Leptepu, Porcelana, and Loncochalgua farming centers, has generated an accumulated mortality to date of 1.3 million fish, equivalent to 2,250 metric tons (MT) of biomass, with weights between 450 grams and 2.5 kilograms, depending on the affected center, and 1.2 kilograms in total average,” a notice signed by Camanchaca General Manager Manuel Arriagada and sent to the Santiago Stock Exchange said.
The company has experienced a loss of 11 percent of its entire stock in the water, according to Arriagada.
“With the information available at this time, it is estimated that what happened in the Comau fjord will generate a direct financial loss of USD 4.4 million [EUR 3.7 million], net of estimated compensation for insurance,” he said.
Arriagada said Camanchaca is working to transfer the surviving fish to centers outside the Comau fjord, “tasks that are expected to be completed soon.”
The salmon farmer reduced harvest estimates for 2021 to 41,000 to 44,000 MT of Atlantic salmon. In its Q4 earnings, in which net losses reached USD 7.5 million (EUR 6.2 million) versus net profits of USD 16.1 million (EUR 13.3 million) in Q4 2019, Camanchaca had provided harvest volume guidance of 56,000 to 57,000 MT whole fish equivalent (WFE) for 2021.
Other farmers with operations in the Camau fjord include Caleta Bay, Cermaq and Ventisqueros. However, no algae blooms have been reported at those farms.
In early March, Sernapesca reported an increase in mortality at Camanchaca’s Nieves farm in the Reñihue Fjord, in the Los Lagos region, due to low oxygen levels caused by a microalgae bloom. That center contained 664,653 Atlantic salmon weighing approximately four kilograms each. The company initiated its action plan to protect against mass mortalities, with Sernapesca monitoring the removal of dead salmon from the center.
Just three days later, Camanchaca reported another increase in mortality, this time at the Puerto Argentino farming center, located in the same sector. Some 240,000 fish died in total, representing 2 percent of the company’s stock. At that time, Camanchaca estimated that the incidents in the Reñihue fjord would generate a direct financial loss of USD 3.6 million (EUR 3.1 million), net of estimated compensation from insurance.
Mid-March, Puerto Montt-based salmon farmer Multiexport Foods reported “abnormal fish mortality, caused by an oceanographic event of low oxygen concentration” at its Apiao farm, located in the community of Quinchao on the island of Chiloé.
The event, which began 8 March, signified the loss of 4,125 fish, which Multiexport said represented 0.0041 percent of the total number of salmon stocked at the facility, equivalent to 24.7 MT.
Due to interruptions in the farming and logistics chain as a knock-on effect of COVID-19, salmon supply in Chile is expected to decrease by 10 percent this year alone. That, along with increased global demand coming from restaurants re-opening as nations get their populations vaccinated and their economies re-established, coupled with individual consumers changing their at-home eating habits for more healthy alternatives, is predicted to drive fish prices up.
Photo courtesy of Hendrix Genetics
