Aerial view of a Salmones Camancha salmon farm in Chile.
Photo: Salmones Camancha.
Chilean salmon farming giant Salmones Camanchaca has reported it has been the victim of sabotage, following the escape of approximately 2,000 fish from a pen at its San José processing facility in Calbuco.
The company reported the escape incident to Sernapesca, Chile's National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, on January 2. It has since taken steps to recapture the fish, and has managed to collect around 16% of the escaped salmon, according to local media reports.
However, Salmones Camanchaca says the escape was no accident, but the result of intentional criminal damage which it believes occurred late January 1 or during the early hours of January 2.
An on-site inspection by officials from Chile's Maritime Authority and Sernapesca confirmed "intentional damage" was caused to the net pen barrier.
Salmones Camanchaca has filed an official report about the incident with the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Altogether it has been a somewhat unpleasant start to the new year for Chile's salmon farmers, with the news of a mass mortality event on 2 January due to a harmful algal bloom near Isla Vitoria, affecting facilities owned by Blumar, AquaChile, Mowi and Multi X.
To date, almost 3,000 tonnes of Atlantic and coho salmon have been killed due to the ongoing bloom of the harmful microalgae Pseudochatonella spp.
