On 10 December alarm bells rang across Chile’s salmon industry as the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) virus, which almost destroyed Chile’s salmon industry six years ago, returned. The crisis massively slowed down Chile’s (then) 2,000 percent annual industry growth.
Despite October reports from the Chilean government authorities and public assurances from Chile President Sebastian Piñera that ISA was no longer a threat to salmon farmers, infected samples were detected at Southern Cross Seafood. The company is located in Chile’s southern Aysen region.
Southern Cross spokespeople say that the company has successfully isolated the virus. The national fishing authority, Sernapesca, confirmed that the virus was detected in time to prevent its spread. Sernapesca added in its declaration that the producer complies with all biosafety regulations that have been put in force since the 2007.
Alicia Gallardo, sub-director of Sernapesca, said the virus was discovered during an inspection carried out by Chile’s national fisheries service (Servicio Nacional de Pesca). During that particular round the inspectors were checking to see if salmon farmers were respecting new safety measures when they randomly selected the infected samples.
What worries the industry and national authorities the most is that this time inspectors found a new variation of the ISA virus (HPR 7A) that had never been detected in Chile before.
The fish from the infected cage containing HPR 7A have already been transferred to another plant where they will be turned into fishmeal. Sernapesca is still in the process of analyzing the contaminated site in order to ensure that the virus does not spread in the other cages. However, it is presently unclear if this sprout will have major setbacks to Chile’s short-lived salmon industry re-launch.
Sources at producer Invertec say that Chilean farmers have not fared quite so well as Norway farms did in 2013. Despite the improved market situation in the United States this year, weaker prices in Japan failed to compensate what is being labeled as an “unfavorable year.” The persistent threat of disease in Chile and higher feed costs are the principal challenges Chilean producers are facing. However, analysts remain positive and do not predict a major decline in price for Chilean salmon.
